Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari

About the film

Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari (transl. Universal hero and the otherworldly beauty), also known by the initialism JVAS, is a 1990 Indian Telugu-language fantasy film directed by K. Raghavendra Rao, who co-wrote the script with Jandhyala and Yandamuri Veerendranath. The film stars Chiranjeevi and Sridevi, while Amrish Puri, Kannada Prabhakar, Allu Ramalingaiah and Rami Reddy play supporting roles. The film is produced by C. Aswani Dutt on Vyjayanthi Movies banner. The plot revolves around a man who finds a ring that gives the bearer great power, but the goddess who lost the ring seeks it back to return to her world.

Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari was theatrically released on 9 May 1990. Upon release, the film was a massive success, grossing ₹15 crore at the box office, becoming the highest grossing Telugu film in history at the time, and winning five state Nandi Awards. It has since achieved cult status.

Plot

Raju, a courageous and spirited young man, works as a tour guide in a picturesque hill station. He is also a caregiver to four young orphans. One day, one of the children is accidentally injured. An Ayurvedic guru suggests the only cure for the child's injury: herbs found only on the banks of Lake Manasarovar. Raju goes to the Himalayas to retrieve these powerful herbs. During the same time, a celestial being, Indraja, the daughter of Lord Indra, happens to visit Manasarovar. She accidentally drops her ring there. This ring is her passport to Heaven. Raju finds the ring and starts wearing it, oblivious to its divine power. Indraja is unable to enter Heaven as she lost her ring. Brihaspathi, the Deva-guru, instructs her to go back to Earth to retrieve it before the next Kartika Purnima.

In search of the ring, Indraja finds her way to Raju's hometown. Due to her strange language and lack of emotional and social awareness, she is initially considered insane. Her umpteen confessions about her divinity are subject to laughter. Raju and the children take pity on her and provide her shelter in their home. She becomes close to the children and often ends up in trouble trying to take the ring from Raju.

In the meantime, Raju is caught up in a moral squabble with KP, an arrogant millionaire. KP's goons launch a series of attacks on Raju and Indraja. Raju overcomes them, unaware that the ring is helping him. KP is suspicious of Raju's supernatural power. He approaches Mahadrashta, a sorcerer who sacrifices women to attain his powers. Mahadrashta discovers that Indraja is a celestial being and plans to sacrifice her to become immortal.

Production

Writer Srinivas Chakravati shared the idea of a story with Raghavendra Rao, where the daughter of Indra who comes to Earth loses her ring without which she cannot return to Indraloka. Raghavendra Rao liked the story and following a series of meetings and story discussion sessions with writer Yandamoori Veerendranath, Jandhyala, Satyanand and Crazy Mohan, developed it into a socio-fantasy drama. Chiranjeevi spent almost 25 days with the writing team.

Initially, it was decided that the protagonist Raju would go to the Moon in a rocket and meet goddess Indraja there. Since the barren surface of the Moon would not be suitable for song picturization, the idea was dropped. Then Chiranjeevi suggested the backdrop of Manasarovar, where Indraja lands and Raju goes to bring the magical herb that would heal the injured leg of the little girl. It was liked by all and was immediately approved.

Aswani Dutt recalls being fascinated by the socio-fantasy films made by the Vijaya Studios, especially Jagadeka Veeruni Katha (1961), which was an inspiration for him to produce this film.

Music

The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja and all songs are written by Veturi. The song "Yamaho" is based on "Madurai Marikozhundhu" from the Tamil film Enga Ooru Pattukaran (1987). According to Chiranjeevi, Ilayaraja composed the song "Abbani Teeyani" within less than a day. The song "Abbanee Teeyani" went on to be reused in Hindi as Dhak Dhak Karne Laga in the film Beta (1992) and the tune of the same song was reused as "Kannathil Kannam Vaika" in the film Watchman Vadivel (1994). The music rights of the film were acquired by Aditya Music. The film's songs composed by Ilaiyaraaja were instant chartbusters.

Hindi (dubbed) (Aadmi Aur Apsara) tracklist

Reception

The film had 100-day runs in a number of theaters and a 200-day run in one centre, it grossed 15 crores at the box office and broke all the records which were set up by past movies and became an all-time blockbuster. This film's box office performance was undeterred by the floods raging then united Andhra Pradesh.

The film was subsequently dubbed in Hindi as Aadmi Aur Apsara, in Tamil as Kaadhal Devathai, and in Malayalam as Hai Sundari.

Legacy

Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari is regarded as a classic fantasy film in Telugu cinema.

Hemanth Kumar CR writing for Vogue India in February 2020 noted, "The dazzling chemistry of the lead actors, along with Ilaiyaraaja’s chart-busting music, and the epic nature of the film propelled it into one of the biggest hits of all time." Further, he listed the film among the seven Telugu films to watch for fans of fantasy genre.

Karthik Keramulu writing for Film Companion in July 2021 noted, "This is a bloody entertaining fantasy drama that has everything in equal measure – over the top action sequences, a sorcerer as the villain, a goddess in the form of Sridevi, a heartthrob with the face of Chiranjeevi, a finger ring that possesses magical powers, and amazing songs by Ilaiyaraaja. This is a lethal combination that today's movies do not have the temerity to fight against."

Key details