"Today is the 30th birthday of our love child," a proud Ram Gopal Varma said to Nagarjuna, whose career had a huge turnaround when 'Shiva' released this day in 1989.

A trendsetting outing, the action film was RGV's debut venture. Starring also Amala, Raghuvaran, JD Chakravarthy and others, the memorable film was lauded for exploring the "concepts of student exploitation by anti-social elements and the impact of crowd psychology".

Inspired by RGV's own observations in Vijayawada, the cycle-chain scene from the movie became a cult statement of sorts as Nagarjuna glamourized it in style. From background music to action moments, everything was remarkable and unique about the landmark movie.

Iaiyaraaja's tunes became massive hits. 'Botany' was a classroom anthem of sorts. 'Anando Brahma' and 'Sarasalu' were mesmerizing. "For an action scene, Ilaiyaraaja used moving string music; when Varma asked why, he answered: 'They have come here to study and they are fighting. So I just felt sad for them'," says a Wiki post.

Like in the case of all milestone movies, things just fell into place miraculously for this one as well. Rest, as they say, is history.