Kalyan is an industrialist, whose conniving enemy Venkat Rayudu and his partners, replace him with his doppelgänger Johnny, an Mumbai-based auto driver. They manages to frame Kalyan for murder, but Johnny realizes Kalyan's innocence and saves him. The duo manages to prove Kalyan's innocence, and also defeat Venkat Rayudu and his partners.
The film was intended as a mass entertainer.[3] Allu Ramalingaiah originally questioned the use of the word Rowdy as a prefix to the title name, but was convinced to use the name by K. Raghavendra Rao, Chiranjeevi and Satyanand. Divya Bharti, the then popular Telugu actress, was signed for the role of Rekha and Shobana was signed for the role of Sita.[3]One of the first movies in Tollywood to be shot in Switzerland, the budget didn't allow the producers to take a big crew to Zermatt. The producer Allu Aravind himself worked as costume and make up assistant for Chiranjeevi and Shobana made herself up. The actors and the director came up with the choreography based on the light and scenery around them for the 3 days they had to shoot the "Chiluka Kshemama" song. ‘Chiluka Kshemama’ song was shot at Rhine waterfalls, Interlaken casino where Yash Chopra’s statue is currently located and Zurich in Switzerland.
Rowdy Alludu was a "Blockbuster" at the Box office and completed 100 days in almost every theater it was shown.[6] Its Tamil dubbed version, Pokkiri Mappilai was also average in Tamil Nadu.[7]
^Team, MBOC (11 January 2017). "Chiranjeevi Hits or Flops Movies Box Office Collection Analysis". MBOC | Bollywood Box Office 2018, Hollywood Collection Day Wise, Tollywood, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali Hits or Flops Lifetime Analysis. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
