More than 3 years ago, Dil Raju announced #indian2 with director Shankar and Kamal Haasan. Due to some internal issues, the project was taken over by Lyca. Now, Dil Raju is going to work with Shankar again. Latest buzz is that Shankar will direct Mega Powerstar Ramcharan in Dil Raju’s banner. The news of this combination has created tremendous buzz among tollywood people. Ram Charan can further cement his pan India stardom with this crazy combination. The question that remains to be answered is whether the project will commence after the completion of Indian 2 or whether it will start immediately. Kamal Haasan has a record of many shelved movies such as Marudhanayagam, Sabash Naidu, and Robo. So, it remains to be seen if Indian 2 will follow that route.
KGF villain roped in Telugu Film
It’s common for artists to act in various films across various industries. Many artists in Telugu films are from different industries and now yet another successful artist to make his appearance in Telugu film.
Sandalwood’s biggest blockbuster KGF is well received by the Telugu audience and now the KGF sequel is one of the most anticipated movies even in Tollywood. Ramachandra Raju who is seen as the villain in KGF is now roped in for Maha Samudram which stars Sharwanand and Siddarth. He will be seen in an intense role which is being directed by Ajay who made his debut with RX100. Currently this film is being canned in Vizag location. Anu Emmanuel and Aditi Rao are the lead actress in this action drama film which was scheduled to release on 19th August 2021. This project is being produced by Anil Sunkara under the AK Entertainments banner.
Liger Shoot and expected release date
Young sensational star Vijay Deverakonda is currently working for a Pan India project “Liger” which is being directed by Puri Jagannadh. This film was planned for October 2020 release but due to Covid film’s shoot has been halted.
All films have resumed their shoot post Lockdown but till now the Liger team hasn’t. Finally, LIGER team to resume their shoot from the 11th of this month in Mumbai. This schedule to last till the end of this month and later the last two schedules to be canned abroad. The complete talkie part to be wrapped by end of April or 1st week of May. The release date will be announced very soon it will be either in July or August. This film stars Ananya Pandey opposite Vijay Deverakonda and this film is being produced under Puri Connects in association with Dharam Productions
Yet another huge shock for Indian2 Team
Creative director Shankar and Universal Hero Kamal Haasan’s most awaited pan-Indian film Indian 2 / Bharateeyudu 2 is under a huge mess. The film is a sequel to the classical blockbuster, Indian/Bharateeyudu, which was the first South Indian 50 cr+ grosser back in 1996. The film is facing multiple delays and this is causing frustration to the unit and the audience. The film was launched in January 2019. There were lot of gaps between the shooting schedules due to the budget issues. The market for Kamal Haasan is not as high as it was when Indian, part 1, was filmed. So, budget was readjusted many times. As a result, DOP Ravi Varman walked out of the project due to committments and was replaced by Rathnavelu.
Shooting went smoothly in 2019 as the team shot the film in places such as Chennai, Bhopal, and Rajahmundry in 2019. While shooting was taking place in 2020, the team faced another hurdle. There was a massive accident in EVP Film City, Chennai. 3 Assistant directors were dead. After that, shooting didn’t start again due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, there is no clarity either from Lyca Productions or from director Shankar. Even Kamal Haasan seems to be focusing on his political career. The buzz is that Lyca Productions is running out of money as they have started another big pan-Indian film, Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan. The latest rumor is that Rathnavelu has walked out of the movie. The biggest question is whether the film will release in theaters or not. Even Kamal Haasan is contributing to the delay as he has not given continuous dates for the film.
The delay is a bad omen for the film as many caste and crew members are leaving the film. It’s also frustrating for Shankar as he spent years and years for 2.0, a science fiction film and now he is spending a lot of time for a message oriented entertainer. Director Shankar never imagined that he would be in such a tough position. He has also started pre-production work for his next film. He is waiting for clarity from Lyca as he wants to move on if the film doesn’t start any time soon. The film may start after TN elections but as of now , there is no word from Lyca, Kamal, or Shankar. Hope more clarity is given about these rumors in upcoming days and the film gets completed smoothly.
RRR on Track, Shoot Update
Massive multi starrer RRR directed by Rajamouli was slated for release on 13th October Worldwide. Recently the team has announced it officially but still, fans are worried that will it release as announced or it gets postponed further.
Now, the news is that Rajamouli is planning to wrap up the shooting part by end of March and kick start post-production works immediately. M.M Keeravani who is composing music has also finalized all the songs and the album works are also going simultaneously. As of now, the team is on track to bring this high budget film on 13th October. Business of this film was also closed in most of the areas and very soon total Worldwide business will be closed. RRR stars Ram Charan, NTR, Ajay Devgan, Alia Bhatt in lead roles and DVV Dannaya is producing this film under DVV Entertainments.
Gopichand’s new film gets Title and Actress
Gopichand who is struggling for a proper break is currently working for Seetimaarr which is scheduled for April 2021 release. There were many speculations about his next film after a long wait it’s official that director Maruthi and Gopichand have teamed up for a new project.
This film is launched a few weeks back and the team has announced that the film will be releasing on 1st October. According to sources makers have titled this film as Pakka Commerical and planning to rope actress Raashi Khanna as lead actress opposite Gopichand. This duo has earlier worked for Jil which was released in 2015. Director Maruthi’s last film Prati Roju Pandage also stars Raashi Khanna as the lead actress. Pakka Commercial will be produced by UV Creations along with GA2 Pictures which will be presented by Mega Producer Allu Aravind.
Naga Chaitanya to make Digital debut with exciting genre
Yuvasamrat Nagachaitanya is currently on a roll with several projects lined up such as Love Story with Shekar Kammula and Thank You with Vikram Kumar. Vikram Kumar is a very creative director known for his classics such as Manam and 24. Vikram and Naga Chaitanya have developed a nice rapport on the sets of Thank You. They are reportedly going to be teaming up with Amazon Prime for a horror web-series. Vikram has good experience with horror genre as his directorial 13-B/yavarum naalum with Madhavan has received critical acclaim. The horror genre will also help Naga Chaitanya explore a new dimension in him. Most of his hit films have been love stories. The demand for Telugu web-series is growing these days due to the pandemic. Some people are not willing to take risks and visit theatres. There is also room to experiment with web-series as the expectations will be different for a theatrical film where you are expected to sit and watch a film non-stop for more than 2 hours. This will give film makers more chances to experiment.
Mega Star’s Acharya Risky In That Zone
Megastar Chiranjeevi and leading director Koratala Siva combination is creating huge buzz in the industry. Mega Powerstar Ram Charan is also playing a special role in the project and that is the icing on the cake for this mega biggie. The telugu states rights are valued a whopping 120 crores. The domestic market is back to full-swing with many hits at the tollywood box office such as Krack, Red, Master(dubbed), 30 Rojullo Preminchadam Ela and Zombie Reddy. So, the mega combination can easily bring profits to all the parties in the summer of 2021. However, the overseas deal is quite a risky one.
The overseas rights were sold for 11 crores, which means the breakeven figure for USA is approximately $2.5 million. Chiranjeevi’s previous movies Khaidi No150 and SyeRaa grossed around $2.4M in USA. The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t slowed in the USA. For the past 3 months, there have been more than 1L+ cases reported for every single day. All of the theaters are not open yet. Regal Cinemas, a major chain in the USA, hasn’t opened yet. More theaters are likely to be open by May. However, with most of the residents in the USA unlikely to receive the vaccine and since May is not far away, we have to see if the COVID-19 pandemic could prove to be an obstacle for the USA market. There isn’t enough time left and USA is unlikely to reach herd immunity anytime soon. So, it’s going to be a challenge for the distributor to recover the money.
Mythri Movie Makers Tamil Debut with Thalapathy!
Mythri Movie Makers, one of the leading production houses in Tollywood is likely to make debut in Tamil industry with a crazy combination. After #Thalapathy65 with Nelson, Vijay is expected to collaborate with Lokesh Kanagaraj again for #Thalapathy66. Their first collaboration, Master was the first big release post-pandemic and made close to 250 cr+ gross worldwide and got blockbuster status. The makers are considering making this a bilingual as Vijay’s market in telugu is growing rapidly. His last release Master grossed close to 25 cr in the telugu states. If the collaboration happens, Mythri Movie Makers will become a leading production house in the South.
Vakeel Saab not getting Fancy offers like other biggies
Power star Pawan Kalyan is making his come back with Vakeel Saab which is a remake of the bollywood film Pink. Pawan has wrapped his shooting part a few weeks back and recently the teaser of this film was out which has got a good response.
Director Venu Sriram has made several changes to the script to satisfy fans and the Telugu audience. Makers have announced that the film will be releasing worldwide on 9th April. Trade seems to be ignoring Vakeel Saab as the business of this film is still open in many areas which is unusual for a star film. Other buggies like Acharya, Radhe Shyam which are releasing after Vakeel Saab closed their business in many areas.
Vakeel Saab is being produced by Dil Raju along with Bony Kapoor. Pawan Kalyan has charged huge remuneration and the film has been delayed for nearly a year which leads to an increase in budget. Should see how much pre Release business does Vakeel Saab makes and its performance at the box-office.