On May 9, 2025, manufacturing home Vyjayanthi Movies is re-releasing the Chiranjeevi-Sridevi Telugu socio-fantasy drama Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari in 2D and 3D codecs in greater than 150 screens, to mark its thirty fifth anniversary. “We have been working on restoring the film for the last few years. My father (producer C Ashwini Dutt) thought it would be apt to re-release it on the anniversary,” says Swapna Dutt, co-producer of Kalki 2898 AD and a number of other noteworthy up to date Telugu movies.
When the film was launched on May 9, 1990, a extreme cyclone battered undivided Andhra Pradesh. The film drew the audiences steadily and have become a blockbuster. It was a sport changer for Ashwini Dutt and the manufacturing home. The fantasy drama directed by Ok Raghavendra Rao, with its story by Yandamoori Veerandranath and screenplay by Jandhyala, featured Chiranjeevi as a guardian of 4 kids and Sridevi as the daughter of Lord Indra; she is in quest of her misplaced ring, with out which she can not return to Indralok.
Chiranjeevi and Sridevi in ‘Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari’
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Special Arrangement
Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari is the newest film to affix the re-release bandwagon. The trend of re-releasing older hits gathered momentum publish pandemic, hoping to woo again the audiences to the concept of collective theatrical viewing with a touch of nostalgia.
Once extra, on the giant display screen
Mahesh Babu’s Pokiri directed by Puri Jagannadh, SS Rajamouli’s Simhadri that includes NTR Jr, Pawan Kalyan’s Kushi, the Ravi Teja starrer Venky are a number of examples. Several movies adopted, together with director Sukumar and Allu Arjun’s Arya 2, Gowtam Tinnanuri’s sports activities drama Jersey led by Nani, Nag Ashwin’s Yevade Subramanyam starring Nani and Vijay Deverakonda, Tharun Bhascker’s Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi and Sekhar Kammula’s Happy Days.
For the film groups, it was an opportunity to regroup and relive reminiscences of making these hits. For the audiences, it was a chance to revisit previous favourites and even introduce these movies to the subsequent era on a big display screen. When Nagarjuna and Sonali Bendre’s 2002 hit Manmadhudu re-released, the cheer in the halls was palpable as Brahmanandam’s well-known line ‘they paid no?’ was mentioned in unison.
Sonali Bendre and Nagarjuna in ‘Manmadhudu’
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Special Arrangement
Making these re-releases attainable are technical groups that diligently restore and digitise previous movies. More usually than not, previous negatives are misplaced or broken. Cases in level being Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari and Singeetam Srinivasa Rao’s Aditya 369, the time journey film led by Balakrishna.
Since 2018, Swapna and her sister Priyanka Dutt had been on the hunt to discover a good print of Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari. Priyanka’s husband, director Nag Ashwin, set a every day reminder on her cellphone, in order that she would relentlessly pursue the search. The manufacturing home contacted a number of theatres in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to see if anybody had an previous print of affordable high quality. Some theatres saved prints of previous blockbusters as keepsakes. In 2021, a print was sourced from Appa Rao of Vijayawada.
Film restoration
Prasad Laboratories started to work on restoring the film. The reels that had been run on projectors for extended intervals had been weathered with the use of grease and oil. The cleansing course of concerned eradicating mud and grease from every body, adopted by scanning for digitisation. The restored film was first digitised in 8K and the photos had been then transformed to 4K format for theatrical projection. Prime Focus oversaw the 3D conversion. “This was challenging since the film was not shot for 3D,” says Swapna.
Ticket bookings for the re-release have been enthusiastic. Those who grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s are likely to turn up in theatres for a slice of nostalgia. Swapna hopes the younger generation will also warm up to the film. “I am looking forward to introducing the film to my five-year-old daughter. Old films may be available on television or digital platforms for home viewing, but the collective viewing experience is unmatchable.” Vyjayanthi Movies earlier re-released the Chiranjeevi and Sonali Bendre starrer Indra to much fan appeal.
Balakrishna in ‘Aditya 369’
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Special Arrangement
Director Singeetam Srinivasa Rao’s 1991 film Aditya 369 featured Balakrishna in twin roles, together with Vijayanagara emperor Sri Krishnadevaraya. Producer Sivalenka Krishna Prasad says about its restoration, “It was an iconic film for our production house, Sridevi Movies, and for Telugu cinema. All the effort that went into digitising the film in 4K with 5.1 sound mix was worth it when we saw the enthusiasm in theatres. We sourced a print (positive) from Vijayawada and worked on the restoration.”
The restored model of Aditya 369 was screened in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, USA, Australia and UK. Krishna Prasad noticed it as a chance to showcase the film, introduced by SP Balasubrahmanyam with dialogues by Jandhyala, to a more recent era. “I doubt if young people will watch these older films at home,” he says, including, “When I lived in Chennai for a few years, I noticed how there was a culture of older films being screened in a few theatres. That helped people rediscover iconic films. Since we do not have that in the Telugu States, this trend of re-releases can serve to plug the gap.”
Next up is Rajamouli and NTR Jr’s Yama Donga, anticipated to reach on May 18. And, the trend is unlikely to fade any time quickly. On X, producer Shobu Yarlagadda hinted at the risk of re-releasing the Baahubali movies to mark a decade of Baahubali – The Beginning!
Published – May 07, 2025 08:08 pm IST
