Mahesh Babu and Sukumar have earlier made 1-Nenokkadine, but the film ended up as a disaster at the box office. Sukumar narrated the same story to Allu Arjun and he has given a nod to go ahead with the story.

At the pre-release function of Maharshi, actor Mahesh Babu, while praising Vamsi Paidipally for his patience, said, “These days, if there is a slight delay for even two months, directors who have good scripts are running away to other heroes. But I've to appreciate Vamshi for keeping his trust in me”. This became a controversy and netizens dug it up by saying that Mahesh was hitting hard at Sukumar. 

Talking about this during the promotions of Maharshi, Mahesh clarified and said, “Sukumar narrated an intense & depth plot while I was looking out for an entertaining one. So, I choose Anil Ravipudi’s script instead of Sukumar and even he was contented with that. I will definitely collaborate with him in the future.”