20 years of Amrutham: From marking the debut of Baahubali fame cinematographer Senthil Kumar to Gundu Hanumantha Rao losing over 30 films, lesser-known facts about the timeless sitcom

Iconic Telugu sitcom Amrutham completed 20 years today (November 18). The popular sitcom created by Gunnam Gangaraju has a special place etched in the hearts of Telugu people across the world. The daily soap first premiered on November 18, 2001 and ran until 2007. The show later had a spin-off film 'Chandamama lo Amrutham' in 2014 and a sequel titled Amrutham Dthvitheeyam aired on OTT. On the occasion of completing two decades, here's a look at a few lesser-known facts about Amrutham.

If insider reports are to be believed, popular movie producers like D Rama Naidu and KS Rama Rao cautioned Gunnam Gangaraju, the writer and producer of Amrutham, against producing a TV show as they may not be financially viable. But Amrutham proved the naysayers wrong with a successful run of 6 years and a loyal fanbase across generations.

The makers decided to stop producing the show after 6 years and 300 weeks of a successful run, as they ran out of ideas.

The show had a few lead roles - Amrutham, Anji, Sarvam and Appaji with the rest of the characters having occasional appearances as the creator Gunnam Gangaraju couldn't write so many characters.

Senthil Kumar, one of the celebrated cinematographers of the country now, who has shot epics like Baahubali series, started his career with Amrutham.

Senthil Kumar, one of the celebrated cinematographers of the country now, who has shot epics like Baahubali series, started his career with Amrutham.

The show has witnessed many replacements of the lead roles with three actors playing Amrutha Rao aka Amrutham aka Ammu. Sivaji Raja was the first actor to play Amrutha Rao. Actor Naresh stepped into his shoes as Amrutham. Two actors including SS Kanchi and Sivannarayana Naripeddi played Gongali Appaji. Sivannarayana shot to fame as Appaji in the show. Four actresses namely Jhansi, Uma Mahanti, Supraja and Anita Chowdary played the role of Sanjeevani aka Sanju, wife of Amrutham, in the show.

Gundu Hanumantha Rao and Vasu Inturi continued to play their popular roles Anji and Sarvam respectively ever since the premiere of the show. Close sources reveal that Gundu Hanumantha Rao has left nearly 30 movies for this show alone. He immortalised the role of Anji. After his death in 2018, noted actor-screenwriter and playwright LB Sriram played the role of Anji.

Some of the famed actors in the show are no more. While Gundu Hanumantha Rao passed away in 2018 due to cardiac arrest, Devadas Kanakala, who played the role of Amrutham's father-in-law, died in 2019 reportedly due to sepsis with multi-organ dysfunction. Supporting actor Narsing Yadav, who played a cameo as a goon and cop, also passed away recently.

The sitcom concluded with Amrutham and Anji closing the hotel after a successful run of 313 episodes. Everyone including Hanumantha Rao got emotional on the last day of the shoot, sources suggest.