Chiranjeevi, Prabhas, Pawan Kalyan, NTR, Allu Arjun, Nani, and Vijay Deverakonda…all of them had big plans for 2021. Some of them had taken two or three films to the sets, some had announced several projects, some wanted to have at least two releases this year.
None of them had a clue about the second wave of the pandemic. With the massive theatrical businesses of films like ‘Krack’, ‘Jathi Ratnalu’, and ‘Uppena’, the entire Telugu film industry believed that good days have come and nothing would stop us.
But now everything has turned upside down with the second wave of the pandemic.
Prabhas
Prabhas wanted to release ‘Radhe Shyam’ on July 30. Alongside, he had planned to wrap the shoots of two biggies – ‘Adipurush’ and ‘Salaar’ by August this year and move on to a sci-fi thriller to be directed by Nag Ashwin. Now, ‘Radhe Shyam’ has been postponed indefinitely. The shootings of all his movies have been halted. The regular shoot of Nag Ashwin’s movie may not begin this year.
Pawan Kalyan
Like Prabhas, Pawan Kalyan has multiple films on the sets. His comeback movie, Vakeel Saab’, was released last month but the actor-politician had contracted coronavirus and stopped all the shootings. He has now recovered but the shootings may not resume soon. He has Krish directed “Hari Hara Veeramallu” and Sagar Chandra directed multi-starrer with Rana Daggubati in production. They have completed two schedules each.
Now, he may have to push his proposed film with Harish Shankar to 2022.
NTR
NTR is another star who is deeply disappointed with the turn of the situation. He has been stuck with director Rajamouli’s epic drama ‘RRR’ for the last three years. The film was originally planned for 2020 release and then was postponed to January 2021. It was again postponed to October 13, 2021. But due to the second wave of coronavirus, ‘RRR’ will be moved to 2022.
Hoping that the shoot of ‘RRR’ will be wrapped up this month, NTR recently announced a film in the direction of Koratala Siva. The makers even mentioned that the shoot will resume in June. But it is not possible to begin the movie now. His TV show, Evaru Meelo Koteeswarulu, also hit the roadblock.
Chiranjeevi
Chiranjeevi starrer ‘Acharya’, which also has his son Ram Charan in a key role, has been postponed from May 13. The new release date will be announced when the pandemic situation subsides. The recently launched Telugu remake of ‘Lucifer’ has been put on hold.
Chiranjeevi also had announced two more films with directors Meher Ramesh and Bobby. He wanted to launch them later this year but now, he has to push them to next year.
Nani
Same is the case with Nani, who has plans to release three movies this year. ‘Tuck Jagadish’, which was to release in June 2020, was rescheduled to April 23, 2021. But, like all other movies, the film has also been affected by the current situation and has been postponed immediately.
He has ‘Shyam Singha Roy’ which is progressing. He also recently launched ‘Ante Sundariniki’. These two films may not make it to the theaters this year now.
Allu Arjun
Allu Arjun wanted to release ‘Pushpa’ on August 13 this year and immediately launch another film in the direction of Siva Koratala. The shoot of ‘Pushpa’ got delayed and it is now looking for options like splitting the movie into two parts and release the first part in October and the second part next year. Even if it gets released as a single part, it will only release towards the end of this year.
Due to the delay in ‘Pushpa’, Siva Koratala has now moved on to direct NTR. Allu Arjun will have to announce his next film when things get settle down.
Vijay Deverakonda
Vijay Deverakonda has been going through a low phase. Adding salt to injury, the COVID-19 has spoiled his plan. With a lot of high hopes and big plans, he began shooting for Puri Jagannadh’s ‘Liger’ and has successfully managed to bring in Karan Johar on board as the co-producer. He wanted to turn Pan-India hero with this film.
But now, Vijay Deverakonda is clueless about its release and the next movies. He has committed to do a film with director Shiva Nirvana and director Sukumar.
