Kannappa is the dream project of Manchu Vishnu and is the costliest film in his career. The film was under pre-production for a long time and several top actors played extended cameos in the film. Prabhas, Mohanlal, Akshay Kumar, Sarath Kumar and others played important roles. Manchu Vishnu several times admitted that Prabhas took no remuneration for the film. Prabhas shares a great bonding with Mohan Babu and he did the film for free. Mohanlal worked for a day and he did not charge any remuneration for Kannappa.

Sarat Kumar is a senior actor and he had a full length role in Kannappa. He also charged zero remuneration for the project because of his friendship with Mohan Babu. Akshay Kumar is the only star actor who took remuneration for the film. Askhay Kumar charged Rs 2 crores per day and he worked for five days. He took home Rs 10 crores for Kannappa. Manchu Vishnu has spent lavishly on the making and the production.

A major portion of the shoot took place in New Zealand and Manchu Vishnu paid good money for the technicians. He also spent decent money on the promotions. Kannappa is a huge relief for Manchu Vishnu and the film is doing decent in theatres. As per the word of mouth and the decent response, Manchu Vishnu will close the non-theatrical rights for good deals and he will recover a portion of the investment.