Back in 2001, Dil Raju, then a distributor, was going through a struggling phase after Mani Ratnam-Madhavan's Amrutham became a mega disaster. Although he had by then distributed hits like Pawan Kalyan's Toli Prema and Pelli Pandiri, the going got impossibly tough with a couple of setbacks in 2001. Years later, Raju would say that two more flops would have meant that he had to fold up and go back to his town.
This is when Jr NTR's Aadhi miraculously changed his fortunes. "I bought the movie's release rights (for select territories). Aadhi became a blockbuster," Dil Raju once said, thanking both Tarak and director VV Vinayak (with whom he made Nithiin's Dil a few months after the release of Aadhi).
Jr NTR and Dil Raju collaborated years later for Vamsi Paidipally-directed Brindavanam, which was a money-spinner, helping the growth of Sri Venkateswara Creations. Their another collaboration, Harish Shankar-directed Ramayya Vasthavayya, made losses.
