Development The film was launched on 8 October 2019 with the working title of
Mega152 on
Vijayadashami festival, being the first collaboration of
Koratala Siva and
Chiranjeevi. Chiranjeevi accidentally revealed the title as
Acharya during audio launch of the film
O Pitta Katha in March 2020.
Mani Sharma is the music composer.
Cinematography and
editing is performed respectively by
Tirru and
Naveen Nooli.
Suresh Selvarajan is the art director. In January 2022,
Asianet News reported that the film's storyline is based on
the Naxalite movement in
Srikakulam district, led by poet and cultural activist
Subbarao Panigrahi.
Casting Trisha was cast as the lead but exited later, citing creative differences, and eventually was replaced by
Kajal Aggarwal. Reportedly,
Mahesh Babu was offered the cameo role in the film. However, Chiranjeevi later confirmed his son
Ram Charan for the role; Koratala adjusted the role to make it full-fledged. In an interview with
Variety, Charan who plays Sidhha, said “It’s a 40-minute role, it’s pretty much the whole of the second half."
Regina Cassandra was signed for a special song in March 2020.
Mahesh Babu has given narration for this film.
Filming Principal photography began in January 2020. Important portions were shot with Chiranjeevi and others at
Ramoji Film City. Filming was resumed in November 2020, and Aggarwal joined the sets in December 2020 in
Hyderabad. A temple town set spanning 20 acres was built for the film. Charan joined the production in January 2021. The film team reached
Rajahmundry the same month. In March 2021, Pooja Hegde shot her portions with a montage song at a specially-constructed set in
Maredumilli. A schedule took place at
Singareni coal mines,
Yellandu later that month. Owing to the second wave of
COVID-19 pandemic, the filming was paused again and later resumed in July 2021 at a village set in Hyderabad. Both Ram Charan and Chiranjeevi resumed shooting their portions that month. Except for two songs, the rest of shoot was finished in August 2021. Following her pregnancy in September 2021, Aggarwal requested the makers to complete her portions at the earliest. It is reported she subsequently opted out of the project owing to the delays in shoot and has not re-joined the production since. However, in April 2022, Koratala stated that Aggarwal's scenes were cut from the final draft of the film as he felt that the role she played could not match her stature.
Legal issues In August 2020, writer Rajesh Manduri alleged that
Acharya was plagiarized from his script. He supposedly narrated the story to production house
Mythri Movie Makers a few years ago which did not materialize. Mythri Movie Makers refuted the allegation, calling it a "gimmick." Matinee Entertainment stated that any such claims were baseless, iterating that the story of Acharya belongs to Koratala. Koratala responded that his story had no resemblance to Manduri's. ==Music==