It was in 2004 that Sukumar shot to fame with his debut film 'Arya'. But before this important film with then-budding actor Allu Arjun happened to him, Sukumar had a tough time. He worked as an assistant on Nithiin-VV Vinayak's 'Dil' and, before this, he had a not-so-lucrative time in terms of earnings.

In his recent interview, Sukumar's most favourite disciple and 'Uppena' director Buchi Babu Sana revealed, "Sukumar garu was making Rs 75,000 per month as a Maths lecturer in 1998. Despite that, he left his teaching career and chose films. One acre of land in his village used to be Rs 50,000 at that time. He was being paid just Rs 500 in the film industry in the beginning." Buchi Babu Sana was Sukumar's student in college.

This is as shocking as it gets. The 'Rangasthalam' director was earning more than what most white-collar job-holders of the time used to and yet didn't think much before settling for peanuts! Cut to the present, he is easily one of the highest-paid filmmakers in India.