Mega Star Chiranjeevi's Anji was made with a whopping budget. Chiranjeevi romanced Namrata Shirodkar in this socio fantasy thriller. The film won the national award for the best graphics. However, the film directed by Kodi Ramakrishna turned out to be a flop in 2004.
Chiranjeevi signed this film after Sneham Kosam but the shooting continued for five long years and finally when it released it bombed at the box office. Late Kodi Ramakrishna once revealed reasons behind Anji flop.
Chiranjeevi was on high breaking box office records with Indra and Tagore and during that time Shyam Prasad Reddy got the dates from Chiranjeevi and selected Kodi Ramakrishna as the director. Kodi Ramakrishna told them at that time that for a mass hero like Mega Star Chiranjeevi, graphics film will not workout. However, Shyam Prasad Reddy did not listen. Kodi even tried to change the concept by consulting Chiranjeevi.
However, Chiranjeevi also dreamed of doing a graphic entertainer. So Kodi became helpless and he turned the story as per Chiru's image. Even after the completion of Anji story, Kodi told Chiranjeevi that he had a dual role story suited for him but Chiranjeevi got fascinated by the graphics.
So finally Anji happened and the shooting went on for 3-4 years. Kodi revealed that for the climax Chiranjeevi wore an unwashed shirt for two years. Chiranjeevi did the film with lot of sincerity.
Unfortunately, the film ended up as a huge disaster.