The film begins with the advent of Kaliyuga, the earth faces threats of all sorts. To reduce its burden Saptharishis helmed by Kasyapa Muni perform a Yagna, Narada Maharshi (P. Suribabu) arrives their and asks who is the patron deity of the sacrifice. Unable to answer, the sages sends Bhrigu Maharshi (Gummadi) to test Trimurthi's. After testing Lord Siva (Vempati Pedha Satyam) & Brahma (A. V. Subba Rao Jr.) Bhrigu reaches Vaikuntha when the Lord Vishnu (N. T. Rama Rao) and his consort Lakshmi (S. Varalakshmi) are in a playful mood and ignore Bhrigu. Angered by this, Bhrigu kicks Vishnu on his chest. To pacify the sage, Vishnu held his legs and pressed the extra eye in his foot the symbol of his egotism where sage realized his folly and apologized to Vishnu. But Lakshmi gets upsets. In that anger, she leaves to earth, Vishnu goes in search of her and settles in an anthill without food & water. Taking pity on Vishnu, Brahma & Shiva assumed the forms of a cow and its calf to serve him. Lakshmi in the form of a cowherdess sold them to the king. Discovering Vishnu on the ant-hill, the cow provided its milk, and thus fed him. Meanwhile, at the palace, the cow was not yielding any milk, for which the queen chastised the royal cow herder Sarabha (Ramana Reddy) severely. To find out the cause Sarabha follows the cow secretly and discovered the cow emptying her udder over the ant-hill. Angered Sarabha flung his axe to harm the cow. However, Vishnu rose from the ant-hill to receive the blow then he curses Sarabha to roam as a ghost until he forms as a diety at this place. After that Vishnu reaches to his ardent devotee Vakulamatha’s (Anjali Devi) ashram calls her as the mother, She names him as Srinivasa and starts staying with her.
Once Srinivasa on hunting chases a wild elephant. In its pursuit, he was led into a garden, where he meets Padmavati (Savitri), daughter of Aakasa Raju (A. V. Subba Rao) and both of them fall in love. After initial hesitation, Aakasa Raju and his wife Dharani Devi (Rushyendramani) agrees to their marriage. For the marriage expenses, Srinivasa takes debt from Kubera and promises to repay the loan with interest till the end of Kaliyuga. After the marriage, Sage Narada informed Lakshmi about the wedding, then fuming Lakshmi confronts with Vishnu and Padmavathi. The clash between his two consorts leads Vishnu, Srinivasa, to turn his self into a stone statue. Padmavathi & Lakshmi also becomes stone on his either sides and Vakula Devi as garland. Everyone feels happy that the deity was revealed as Swayambhu to protect the earth.
Generations Pass, Once a devotee called Bhavaji (Chittoor V. Nagaiah), arrives from North India and starts calling the Lord as Balaji. But he is not allowed to see the god and thrown out of the temple. From that time the god visits every day to spend some time with him by playing dice. One day, in the game Balaji Lord loses his ornament in the bet. Next day, when the temple doors are opened, the ornament is missing. The King (Rajanala) arrives to conduct interrogation and Bhavaji says the truth that God himself has given to him. Everybody says that it's a cock & bull story, so King keeps a test to him to prove his innocence keeping him in a prison with full of sugar cane inside, and asks him to eat every bit of it before dawn. Lord Venkateswara arrives in a form of an elephant and finishes the sugar cane within moments, and disappears. In the morning, the king was surprised to see all the sugar cane eaten. From that day he becomes famous in the name of Hathiram Bhavaji and the entire authority of the temple is given to him. At last, generations go on passing and number of devotees go on increasing to the temple. Finally, the movie ends by showing the Srivari Brahmotsavam.
It released with 20 prints and had a 100-day run in 16 centers and 175 days in Hyderabad and Vijayawada centers.[1][2]
The deification of Rama Rao began and his residence in Madras became a shrine for pilgrims, who would visit him after a trip to Tirupati. NTR fans used to wait in long queues outside his house for a darshan of their `living-god'. They used to apprise him of their problems back home in their villages and he listened to them patiently before rushing to the studio in the morning.[3][4]
1939 film
Sri Venkateswara Mahatmyam, titled as Balaji,[5] was first made by P. Pullaiah under the Famous Films banner in 1939. C. S. R. Anjaneyulu acted as Balaji and Santha Kumari as Padmavathi in the lead roles. The movie was among the successes of the early days of Pullaiah and Shanthakumari's married life.
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