Your favourite old Telugu movie is back in the theatre, now in 3D

Vyjayanthi Movies re-releases Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari in 2D and 3D formats, joining the trend of reviving Telugu classics.

On May 9, 2025, production house Vyjayanthi Movies is re-releasing the Chiranjeevi-Sridevi Telugu socio-fantasy drama Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari in 2D and 3D formats in more than 150 screens, to mark its 35th 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 several noteworthy contemporary Telugu films.

When the film was released on May 9, 1990, a severe cyclone battered undivided Andhra Pradesh. The film drew the audiences gradually and became a blockbuster. It was a game changer for Ashwini Dutt and the production house. The fantasy drama directed by K Raghavendra Rao, with its story by Yandamoori Veerandranath and screenplay by Jandhyala, featured Chiranjeevi as a guardian of four children and Sridevi as the daughter of Lord Indra; she is in quest of her lost ring, without which she cannot return to Indralok.

Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari is the latest film to join the re-release bandwagon. The trend of re-releasing older hits gathered momentum post pandemic, hoping to woo back the audiences to the idea of collective theatrical viewing with a dash of nostalgia.

Mahesh Babu’s Pokiri directed by Puri Jagannadh, SS Rajamouli’s Simhadri featuring NTR Jr, Pawan Kalyan’s Kushi, the Ravi Teja starrer Venky are a few examples. Several films followed, including director Sukumar and Allu Arjun’s Arya 2, Gowtam Tinnanuri’s sports 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 teams, it was a chance to regroup and relive memories of making these hits. For the audiences, it was an opportunity to revisit old favourites and even introduce these films to the next generation on a large screen. When Nagarjuna and Sonali Bendre’s 2002 hit Manmadhudu re-released, the cheer in the halls was palpable as Brahmanandam’s famous line ‘they paid no?’ was said in unison.

Making these re-releases possible are technical teams that diligently restore and digitise old films. More often than not, old negatives are lost or damaged. Cases in point being Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari and Singeetam Srinivasa Rao’s Aditya 369, the time travel film led by Balakrishna.

Since 2018, Swapna and her sister Priyanka Dutt were on the hunt to find a good print of Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari. Priyanka’s husband, director Nag Ashwin, set a daily reminder on her phone, so that she would relentlessly pursue the search. The production house contacted several theatres in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to see if anyone had an old print of reasonable quality. Some theatres stored prints of old blockbusters as keepsakes. In 2021, a print was sourced from Appa Rao of Vijayawada.