On the occasion of Venkatesh’s 65th birthday, the makers of his 1998 film Premante Idera are planning a special re-release for the film on December 13. The makers also announced a special re-release trailer for the film will be unveiled today, on November 26.
Produced by Burugupalli Siva Rama Krishna and K. Ashok Kumar under Sri Lakshmi Venkateswara Art Films banner, Premante Idera marked the Telugu debut for Preity Zinta who worked in a few other Telugu films before deciding to shift focus to Bollywood. The film also marked maiden film album for Ramana Gogula, who recently reunited with Venkatesh for the chartbuster ‘Godari Gattu’ from Sankranthiki Vasthunam.
Directed by Jayanth C Paranjeee, the romantic drama told the story of Murali and Sailu who fall in love with each other after having a chance meeting at a friend’s wedding. However, Murali finds out that out Sailu is soon to be married to a police officer. How Murali attempts to convince Sailu’s parents for their union forms the crux of the story. The supporting cast included Ranganath, Satyanarayana, Srihari, Brahmanandam, Ali, Chandra Mohan, Giri Babu, Prasad Babu, and Narra Venkateswara Rao.
Despite receiving mixed reviews from the critics, Premante Idera emerged as a massive box office success, collecting a distributors' share of ₹8.5 crore in its complete theatrical run. The film, that also bagged a Nandi Award for its cinematography (by Jayanan Vincent), was remade in Kannada an year later as O Premave with Ravichandran and Rambha in the lead roles.
