Annamayya (1997)

Annamayya follows the life of Tallapaka Annamacharya, the poet and composer from 15th-century Andhra who is said to have written some 32,000 devotional songs in praise of Lord Venkateswara. The film traces his journey from a young man torn between worldly love and devotion, through his marriage and his growing absorption in the deity of the Tirumala hills, to his clash with a king who demands that Annamayya's poetry praise him instead of God. Directed by K. Raghavendra Rao, it cast Nagarjuna, then known mainly for romantic and action roles, as the saint, a risk that became one of the defining successes of his career. M. M. Keeravani's settings of Annamacharya's kirtanas made the soundtrack enormously popular, and the film is still regarded as a landmark of Telugu devotional cinema.