Can any fan of Akkineni Nageswara Rao forget about 'Premaabhishekam'? The answer would be a big 'NO'. The film released on 16th February 1981 and the romantic drama turned 40 on Tuesday.

Legendary filmmaker Dasari Narayana Rao directed the film and was bankrolled by Venkat Akkineni, Nagarjuna Akkineni under Annapurna Studios banner. Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Sridevi, Jayasudha acted in the lead roles. Murali Mohan, Gummadi, Mohan Babu, Kavitha and few others acted in the prominent roles in the film. Chakravarthy scored music for the film. Premabhishekam was remade in Tamil as Vazhvey Maayam, in Hindi as Prem Tapasya and in Oriya as Prathama Prema. The movie turned as blockbuster and in some theatres the film has run for 365 days. Not only the songs, Naa Kallu Chebuthunnayi, Kotappa Kondaku and Oka Devuni Gudilo but also other songs were loved by all and sundry.

Story of the film:

In the movie, Akkineni Nageswara Rao(Rajesh) falls for Sridevi(Devi). In the beginning of the film, Devi doesn't like Rajesh but later in the course of time, she starts liking Rajesh. They fell in love with each other and decides to marry. But, just a few days before the wedding, the brother of Devi comes to know that Rajesh was a cancer patient. He tries hard to stop the wedding but Rajesh and Devi plan to get married without telling to anyone. But before Rajesh could marry Devi, he also comes to know about his medical problem.

Rajesh comes to know that his close friend Murali Mohan (Prasad) also loves Devi. Rajesh behaves in a different manner and pretends as if he was moving close with a prostitute Jayanthi (Jaya Sudha), so that Devi would hate her. Rajesh calls off wedding with Devi and says that it was just his plan to take revenge on her who had humiliated her numerous times. Angry Devi asks her brother to fix marriage with Prasad (Murali Mohan). Rajesh marries Jayanthi. Later, Devi marries Prasad, after her wedding, she comes to know about the truth. Devi rushes to meet Rajesh and he blesses the couple and dies.