Soon in theatres: digitised 'Bhagyavantharu'

Producer and distributor M Muniraju grew up watching Dr Rajkumar’s films. He has invested in restoring Rajkumar’s 1977 hit family drama ‘Bhagyavantharu’ in the hope that a younger generation will see his work.

‘Bhagyavantharu’ was ready for release last year, but the Covid-19 situation upset all plans. This year again, thanks to the theatres being shut till May first week due to the pandemic, Muniraju is disappointed that he won’t be able to release the film a day before the legend’s birthday on April 24.

“It was my dream to have this film out on the legend’s birthday but the pandemic has upset my plans. It’s not about losing my money. I am sad that people will not be able to watch this great film on the special day. However, I will release it as soon as theatres open,” Muniraju tells Showtime.

Directed by H R Bhargava, ‘Bhagyavantharu’ also stars B Saroja Devi, Ashok, Balakrishna and Ramakrishna. The film was produced by Dwarakish. Muniraju bought the rights from Dwarakish and handed the negatives to Prasad Labs in Chennai, where most of the restoration was done in 20 days. “It cost me Rs 45 lakh to complete the process,” he says.

In 2013, Muniraju had released a restored version of Rajkumar’s spy thriller ‘Operation Diamond Racket’ and it ran for 100 days at the Kapali theatre in Bengaluru. He hopes to restore and release at least one Rajkumar film a year for as long as he is active.

Other Rajkumar films he restored are ‘Daari Tappida Maga’, ‘Nanobba Kalla’, and ‘Raja Nanna Raja.’