In Telugu filmdom, this maverick director, who wears his heart on the sleeve always, coming together with Kalyan Ram is very interesting.

Now Kalyan Ram is no small hero. He has had big hits through Athanokkade and Asadhyudu. And he also belongs to the first family of Telugu film industry. So his stature is as big as they come.

Kalyan Ram needs a big one to show that he really belongs to the top echelons of the industry.

Teja, on the other hand, is in a different kind of compulsion.

The director, who is a man of hard ideas and some of his last few movies have belied the promise that he showed in the early period of his career. When Teja arrived on the scene, he showed a lot of heart and spunk. But his last big one seems Jayam, which seems from a different era.

Fortunately for both Teja and Kalyan Ram, Lakshmi Kalyanam has the trappings of a well-packaged mass masala entertainer.

As Teja says, "It will have action and sentiments in a smart spread. The heroine is debutante Kajal while Suhasini of Chantigadu-fame does a special role".

"The film showcases the marriage traditions in villages along with cockfights and bullock cart races that come during the marriage season. It is a village subject that will appeal to the city-dwellers", says the director.

Teja's usual favorite R P Patnaik has set to tunes the songs while Mani Sharma has handled the re-recording. There are eight songs and all of them were situation-oriented.

Ajay, Sayaji Shinde, Avinas, Raghubabu, Srinivasa Reddy, Duvvasi Mohan, Lakshmipati, Kondavalasa Lakshmana Rao, Tulasi, Telangana Sakunthala and others are in the cast.

Cinematography is by AR Krishna.

The movie is set for release next week.