Arundhati is a 2009 Indian Telugu-language horror fantasy film[3] directed by Kodi Ramakrishna, and produced by Shyam Prasad Reddy, under his banner, Mallemala Entertainments.

The film stars Anushka Shetty in the title role with Sonu Sood, Arjan Bajwa, Sayaji Shinde, Manorama, and Kaikala Satyanarayana.

[2] The success of the film turned Anushka into a major movie star overnight in Telugu cinema.

While traveling to Gadwal, one of her relatives Ramana and his wife Susheela encounter a mysterious entity and are led to an abandoned mansion.

Arundhati later discovers that the man whom she met outside the mansion is her grandfather's late elder brother and persuades the house maid Chandramma to tell her the story of Jejamma.

Enraged, Jejamma kicks Pasupathi out of the palace after the people of Gadwal beat him black and blue.

Jejamma visits Aghoras, learns that the only solution for this is that she has to sacrifice her life, only through that she can able to kill him by a weapon which is created from her bones after her death.

Shyam Prasad Reddy revealed that he got the idea of Arundhati while receiving National Awards for the film Anji (2004).

[1] Being inspired from films like Chandramukhi and The Exorcist, he made it a female-oriented story "for a bigger appeal so that the entire family could watch it.

[1][6] Shyam Prasad Reddy wanted somebody with a 5'10" (5 feet 10 inches) height and "should look royal because she is the queen, and she rides on horses and elephants".

After conducting her photoshoot, Shyam Prasad Reddy explained the story and Arundhati's characterisation.

The drum dance involving Anushka choreographed by Sivashankar who "had to coordinate with the graphics team to get the exact precision" and was shot for 45 days at a set erected at Annapoorna Studios.

Ravishankar completed the dubbing within 14 days and found it to be "most challenging work" and his voice "has gone sore for 5 times during this process".

[12] Rahul Nambiar was appointed as Creative Director and Visual Effects Supervisor by Shyam Prasad Reddy for this feature film.

The album featured eminent singers like K. S. Chithra, Kailash Kher, Kalpana Raghavendar and N. C. Karunya.

The track "Jejamma" required a majestic and ambient grandeur, so Koti selected Kailash Kher.

Rediff gave it three stars out of five and said, "The main plus points of the film are screenplay (creative director Rahul Nambiar and the Mallemalla Unit), art direction (Ashok), cinematography (Senthil Kumar), editing (Marthand K. Venkatesh), special effects and the performances of Anushka [Images], Sonu Sood and Sayaji Shinde.

[18] Sify gave its verdict as "Worth a watch" with four stars noted, "The film has come across with some really mind-blowing graphics and presentation, even the performances were top-notch that helped.

The film is one of the best made ever in the history of Telugu cinema in terms of technical values so it deserves to be a good hit".

[20] Behindwoods reviewing the Tamil dubbed version, gave 3 out of 5 stars and stated "Old school horror, new age film making".

[26] According to writer Gopimohan, Arundhati made audience to "welcome creative content" and Magadheera started a trend of experimentation with period, socio-fantasy and spiritual themes that was continued in films like Panchakshari (2010), Nagavalli (2010), Anaganaga O Dheerudu (2011), Mangala (2011), Sri Rama Rajyam (2011) and Uu Kodathara?

[27] Tammareddy Bharadwaja said "Ever since Arundhati and Magadheera did well at the box office, the rest of the industry started following their footsteps.