Mahesh Becomes Undisputed King of Re-Releases

Superstar Mahesh Babu’s last film is Guntur Kaaram and he is not seen actively on the big screen after that. It will take another year or more to witness his grand action on the big screen. However, his re-releases are filling the gap to entertain the fans. Mahesh’s craze is such that, most of his flops at theatres later went on to become classic hits on small screens. Now, it is helping him gain the tag – The Undisputed King of Re-Releases.

The situation is such that the love of fans is evident during re-releases, where collections are so massive that they create the feeling of an actual new release, making it hard to measure their support in words. Thus, Mahesh Babu is the only hero whose films have never flopped in re-releases.

Pokiri started this trend, and even after multiple re-releases, fans celebrated it like a festival. Though the trade response wasn’t overwhelming at first, things changed with Murari, which unexpectedly became Tollywood’s highest-grossing re-release. Even Okkadu always received a great reception in multiple re-releases.

Now, Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu is also drawing a fantastic response, with theaters resembling function halls. Trade reports suggest its opening day gross exceeded two crores.

And it doesn’t stop there. Plans are already in place for Mahesh’s birthday, with buyers making big predictions for the collections. Athadu is set for a re-release in May, and despite being a flop, it enjoys a strong cult following. If 1 Nenokkadine gets a re-release in the future, it could see a similar response.

By the time SSMB 29 with Rajamouli hits the screens, films like Rajakumarudu, Takkari Donga and others would also have completed a round of theatrical run.

It all indicates the right choice of scripts that Mahesh Babu made during the initial and growing days of his career which is proving to be a strong foundation. Even Mahesh does films at a slow pace, his old movies will still generate craze and collections at theatres.