RRR and Vakeel Saab to Love Story, these 7 most-awaited Telugu films moved from 2020 to 2021

Owing to the devastating impact of COVID-19, 2020 will certainly be remembered as one of the worst years for mankind. Along with other sectors in the country, the catastrophic pandemic has adversely impacted the media and entertainment industry decreasing its revenue by a massive margin. While the shootings across all formats were stalled for nearly six months, big-ticket projects got halted midway and theaters remained closed for close to ten months. This has naturally led to thousands of daily wagers losing their work and many single screen owners shutting their shop. However, things gradually got back to normal from September as filmmakers resumed the shoot of their halted projects and popular superstars also joined the proceedings.

Initially scheduled for a massive release in summer 2020, Pawan Kalyan’s comeback film ‘Vakeel Saab’ postponed its release to 2021 following the outbreak of coronavirus and the subsequent lockdown. The shooting of the courtroom drama is on the verge of completion and the makers are currently canning crucial scenes on Pawan in Araku. While Nivetha Thomas is stepping into the shoes of Taapsee Pannu in this Telugu remake of ‘Pink’, Anjali and Ananya Nagalla are reprising the roles of Kirti Kulhari and Andrea Tariang from the original Hindi film.

Set against the pre-independence era of the 1920s, RRR is a fictional tale that hypothetically juxtaposes the journeys of Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju. While Junior NTR is playing the former in this period-actioner directed by SS Rajamouli, Ram Charan will be seen as the latter. Starring Bollywood actors Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt in crucial cameos, the 400 crore budgeted project features acclaimed foreign actors like Olivia Morris, Alison Doody and Ray Stevenson. Initially scheduled for a global release on July 30th, the shooting of RRR got halted in March as the pandemic played spoilsport. While the second release date (Jan 8, 2021) has also been skipped with the shooting recently resuming from October, the makers are yet to announce the new date.

Initially scheduled for a release in April 2020, the shooting of ‘Love Story’ got halted in March upon completion of a short schedule in Dubai. After a six-month break, the romantic drama went back on floors from September and wrapped up its shoot in November. Starring Sai Pallavi as the leading lady, the story of the Sekhar Kammula directorial revolves around a boy and girl who move to the city from their village to pursue their dreams. While the film is expected to hit the theaters in January, all the promos released till now have generated massive curiosity, thanks to the adorable chemistry between the lead actors.

Rana Daggubati and Sai Pallavi’s intense saga “Virata Parvam” has been in the making for more than a year and the outbreak of COVID has only delayed the proceedings. However, the shooting of the film is proceeding at a rapid pace from the past few weeks and the first look teaser showcased the ‘Baahubali’ actor as a gun-toting Naxalite commander with the name, Comrade Ravanna. Directed by Venu Udugula of ‘Needi Naadi Oke Katha’ fame, the serious film features an ensemble star cast like Nivetha Pethuraj, Priyamani, Nanditha Das, Naveen Chandra, Zareena Wahab, Rahul Ramakrishna, Eswari Rao and Sai Chand.

Initially scheduled for a pan-Indian release in April 2020, ‘Haathi Mere Saathi’ titled as ‘Aranya’ in Telugu was indefinitely postponed due to the pandemic. Starring Rana Daggubati as Bandev, a jungle man who lives with elephants, the film is directed by popular Tamil filmmaker Prabhu Solomon and the plot is inspired by true events of humans encroaching the elephant corridors in Kaziranga and Assam. To look his part as a 50-year-old man living in the jungle, Rana followed a strict diet regime from the past two years and underwent extensive training to shed down nearly 30 kilos from his body.

Akkineni Nagarjuna is the first Telugu superstar to enter the film sets after lockdown. In the first week of September, the 61-year-old actor resumed shooting for his upcoming adventure-thriller ‘Wild Dog’ at the high-altitude Himalayan resort town of Manali and wrapped up the entire schedule in November. Initially scheduled to hit the theaters this month, the pandemic played spoilsport in the proceedings. Directed by Ashishor Solomon, the action-thriller will feature Nagarjuna in the role of an encounter specialist, NIA officer ACP Vijay Varma. Starring Dia Mirza as the leading lady, Wild Dog features an ensemble star cast like Atul Kulkarni, Saiyami Kher and Ali Reza in pivotal roles.

Initially scheduled to hit the big screens in April, Ram Pothineni’s upcoming film RED got postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown. Despite receiving good offers from OTT platforms, the makers were hell-bent for a theatrical release and finally, with theaters opening all across the country, the film is gearing up for a Sankranthi release. Starring Nivetha Pethuraj, Malvika Sharma and Amritha Aiyer as the leading ladies, the Telugu remake of Tamil film ‘Thadam’ is directed by Kishore Tirumala and bankrolled by Sravanthi Ravi Kishore.