Vinayakudu, directed by Sekhar Kammula's protege Sai Kiran, with the Happy Days lead pair Krishnudu and Sonia, has been produced by Sarita Patra. This film about love between a fat guy and a pretty, young and ambitious girl caught the audiences' imagination and opened to full houses all over Andhra Pradesh. Vinayakudu started off with very little hype and not much was reported about it but when word leaked out that Dil Raju had obtained the rights of the film for the Nizam and Vizag areas, the media got excited and hyped the film. This hype helped Vinayakudu to get a good start at the box office.

Vinayakudu was released with a limited number of prints and got collections with over 90% of the theatres being full for the weekend. At Odeon (RTC Crossroads) and Prasads, all six shows were houseful for Saturday and Sunday. At Vizag (for entire Uttar Andhra), the film was released with only one print and went houseful over the weekend.

The unique concept of a chubby youth falling for an attractive girl is quite novel to Indian cinema. Anil-Bhanu's poster designs too attracted the younger audiences and of course curly-haired, petite Sonia's presence is the icing on the cake.