Buchi Babu Sana likens Vijay Deverakonda's fan craze to Pawan Kalyan's

Buchi Babu Sana compared Vijay Deverakonda to Powerstar Pawan Kalyan at the pre-release event of Ranabaali, the period drama that opens in theatres on October 16.

The Peddi director told a story he heard from an assistant director who worked on Geetha Govindam and later on Uppena, Buchi's debut film. While Geetha Govindam was being shot at a college, female students went wild trying to get a look at Vijay. The college management ended up locking them inside their classrooms to keep order. Buchi said the episode showed the craze Vijay commands, and that his range matches Pawan Kalyan's.

Several young directors also came to the event to wish the team well.

Rahul Sankrityan has directed Ranabaali, which pairs Vijay with Rashmika Mandanna again. In an interview before the release, Vijay said he plays Singanamalla Bobbili Ranabaali, a fictional chieftain drawn from the stories of three palegars of Rayalaseema. The film is set during the Great Madras Famine of 1876 to 1878.

Vijay has mostly spoken in a Hyderabadi Telangana accent on screen, so he worked with a diction coach for about three months to learn the Rayalaseema dialect. He trained in horse riding over the same period. By a month into the shoot, he said, the dialect came to him naturally.

This is the couple's first film together since their wedding earlier this year, after Geetha Govindam and Dear Comrade. Vijay said Rashmika can switch off from work once they get home, while he keeps talking about cinema. Rahul named her character Jayamma, after his own mother.