Preity Zinta had done 'Dil Se' with the Mani Ratnam-Shah Rukh Khan duo and the blockbuster 'Premante Idera' in Telugu. A year later, in 1999, the dimpled beauty signed up to do 'Raja Kumarudu' and her debut hero was Mahesh Babu, who would go on to become one of Tollywood's reigning stars.

As the film completes 19 years, the Bollywood actress gets nostalgic. Sharing a throwback pic and a video clip on Twitter, she says, "Can you believe it’s #19yearsForRajakumarudu ... So much fun working with Mahesh Babu even though I had sleepless nights learning Telugu. In the end, it was worth it. Thank you K Raghavendra Rao garu," she adds. Interestingly, the Preity is a year older than Mahesh.

The film was made on a budget of Rs. 5 CR and collected the double the amount, says a Wikipedia figure.