local theatre owners Tirupur Balu and Seenu for . Home media The film's original negative was damaged because of poor care and ill treatment. AP International started a restoration project, which scanned the film frame-by-frame in a 2K workflow. They were able to remove all wear and tear and retain the natural film grain. This restored version was released on 2 August 2012 on Blu-ray format. The satellite rights of the film is sold to Sun TV. Its television premiere occurred on the occasion of Diwali in 27 October 2008. Reception Critical response Writing for The Hindu, Malathi Rangarajan said, "As you watch the film you cannot but admire the ingenuity of writer-director P. Vasu in choosing a story that is bound to sell and at the same time helping Rajini maintain his image of an invincible hero", before concluding that, "The 'Mannan' team proves a winner again". Another critic from The Hindu, Sudhish Kamath, said Rajinikanth is "at his vintage best". A reviewer from The Times of India called the film "Entertaining, stylish, respectful of ritual, and always massively larger than life". Arun Ram of India Today said, "With Chandramukhi, Rajnikant revives his fading career and fortunes of Tamil cinema". G. Ulaganathan, writing for the Deccan Herald praised the chemistry between Rajinikanth and Vadivelu, saying "Rajinikanth is back in full form, comedy comes naturally to him and he finds an able ally in Vadivelu. Some of the best scenes in the movie are when both are together." Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan said in its review, "Rajni's films normally revolve around him but in this case, Rajni is in a script which goes around several people ... Rajni as Vettaiyan is the highlight of the film ... After many years, Rajni has shown that he does not confine to his personality cage through this film." and gave the film 40 marks out of 100. The Sify reviewer wrote that Chandramukhi was simply "a remake of P. Vasu's Apthamitra from Kannada with some additional songs, fights and comedy scenes thrown in to further boost the superstar's image" but like Ulaganathan, commended the comedy scenes of Rajinikanth and Vadivelu, terming them the film's highlight. A. Ganesh Nadar of Rediff said the film would become "a certain hit" and,"[t]he star will be happy, his fans will be happy and producer Prabhu will giggle all the way to the bank". V. Gangadhar of The