A. M. Rathnam is an Indian film producer, lyricist, screenwriter, and director known for his works in Telugu and Tamil cinema. He bankrolled many hit films like and captured the imagination of all. He is now bankrolling Power Star Pawan Kalyan's period entertainer Hari Hara Veera Mallu. Fans are eagerly awaiting the release of the film which is made in two parts on pan India scale.

In the meantime, AM.Rathnam speaking to scribes recalled how entire industry mocked him for producing Kamal Haasan's Bharateeyudu.When asked how he felt with Shankar's Indian came to him,he said ' Actually before Indian, I was not knowing Shankar. It is true that he scored a hit with Gentleman and the songs turned out to be hit. The film was Kunjumon. During that time, Tamil dubbing films in Telugu didnot have market and hardly one can spend only Rs 35lakhs. Though Gentleman was good, he told me Rs 1cr for the dubbing rights. But no one was ready to take risk. Maximum they were ready to pay was Rs 55 lakhs. They were skeptical about the film doing well in Tollywood. When I returned from Singapore, I went and and watched the film and loved it. I met Kunjumon and when he qouted Rs 1 crore, I offered him Rs 60 lakhs. He asked for two days time and told me that Rs75 lakhs above is ok. I offered him Rs 76 lakhs. Every one made fun of me but I went ahead as the film was good. We again reshoot the film in different locations and rewrote the songs and when it was released, it turned out to be biggest hit. The film turned out to be big hit and the song Chikubuku turned out to be bigger hit in Telugu than in Tamil."

He continued saying after that 'After that I quoted the best price for Premikudu. People expressed doubts as to whether viewers watch Prabhu Deva as a hero. I was confident of Rahman,Shankar and Jeeva will not fail. The film turned out to be hit. Then Shankar himself called and said he will do film with me. He watched Premikudu pre release and he was unware that we changed climax with flashboards . He was shocked and told me that many are willing to film with him but he wanted the project to be done with me. In that way Bharateeyudu happened"