After Magadheera, Ram Charan signed an ambitious project titled Merupu, which was an action-packed sports drama centered around soccer. Tamil director Dharani (he remade Okkadu as Ghilli in Tamil), who was then in full form, was chosen to helm the mega project. Kajal Aggarwal, Cherry's Magadheera co-star, was selected as the female lead. Producer RB Choudary, who recently passed away, agreed to bankroll it.
Mega fans were highly excited for the film, considering it had a sports backdrop. However, Merupu never saw the light of day. It was officially shelved just a few weeks into its production phase. The initial planned budget for the project was around Rs 35 Cr. Trouble started during the very first shooting schedule in Chennai. The team filmed for only fifteen days. Surprisingly, those fifteen days cost nearly Rs 8 Cr.
Meanwhile, serious creative issues also emerged. Megastar Chiranjeevi watched the rough footage of the completed shoot. He opined that the rushes were not up to the mark.
It is said that RB Choudary sat down with Chiru and Charan to find a way out. The father-son duo advised him to shelve the project and use Charan's dates for some other project. They then asked Sampath Nandi to pitch a story. It became Racha.
