Director Mani Ratnam shot the film in the misty valleys of Ooty to give it a soft, poetic atmosphere. Filming would start early in the dawn, around 5 AM, and wrap up by about 11 AM, in order to capture the scenes in a dreamy atmosphere; the cast and crew had to arrive on location one hour before filming. In addition, an ice machine was brought from Madras to provide any additional mist if the shot didn't look romantic enough.
In 1989, an 11-year old Delhi girl named Geethanjali was suffering from terminal cancer and wrote her thoughts and emotions in a diary, which was published around that time. Mani Ratnam was moved when he read the diary, and named his film, and the title heroine, after the little girl.
London-born Girija Shettar was a guest at Mani Ratnam's marriage to Suhasini, and was selected for the title role. She took two months to prepare for the role under associate director 'Gadiraju Keshava Rao'.
The dance chorographer Sundaram, who's better known as the father of Prabhu Deva and Raju Sundaram, has a cameo as the old man in the song "Jallanta Kavvinta Kaavaalil."
This movie was a phenomenal success both commercially and critically, winning several awards including the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment, and seven Andhra Pradesh state Nandi Awards.
This movie, along with Siva (1989) are credited with catapulting Nagarjuna's career and transforming him into the heartthrob of millions of young women almost overnight.
The song "Nandikonda Vaagulona" was shot in seven days, on a 7-lakh cemetery set specially constructed for the song.
Augmented by its soul-stirring music, this movie became the biggest success of the year, and is now widely considered to be a cult classic.
Owing to its tremendous success, the movie was dubbed in Malayalam under the same title, Tamil under the title 'Idhayathai Thirudathe', and also remade in Hindi as 'Yaad Rakhegi Duniya', starring Aditya Pancholi, Rukhsar and Vikram Gokhale.
The final scene in the film was made at the request of the president of Nagarjuna Akkineni's fan club. He was not happy with a tragic climax, saying "No one would be happy if their hero dies and the heroine also dies! At least, say something like they lived happily, until they die..." The scene was changed in accordance with this request.