Speculations are rife that Telugu superstar Prabhas’ upcoming mythological drama Adipurush will not release on January 12 next year as announced earlier. The reasons are still unknown. The makers of Adipurush are maintaining radio silence — neither denying nor confirming the rumours. Our request to the production company for a comment on the same also didn’t receive a response.
It won’t be wrong to assume that the producers must have decided that holding back the release of Adipurush was for the best owing to many reasons. One, the box office is quite crowded with several big-star movies for the Sankranti/Pongal holiday.
The producers of Tamil superstar Vijay’s most-awaited movie Varisu recently confirmed that the movie will arrive in cinemas during the Pongal festival. Even though the release date is not yet announced, industry sources speculate that it will either release on January 11 or January 13. The film will dominate most of the key markets in south India, besides Tamil Nadu. Vijay has a huge fan following in Kerala and Karnataka. And Varisu will also release in Telugu as Varasudu. The film is produced by Dil Raju, written and directed by Vamshi Paidipally and is majorly shot in the Telugu states. So naturally, the producers will give it a wide launch in the Telugu regions posing a real challenge to Adipurush at the box office there.
Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi’s Waltair Veerayya is also coming out to cash in on the Sankranti holiday. Written and directed by KS Ravindra, popularly known as Bobby Kolli, the film also stars another Telugu A-lister Ravi Teja. The supporting cast features Shruti Haasan, Catherine Tresa and Bobby Simha. The teaser that was released earlier showed Chiranjeevi in an action-packed avatar creating a good buzz among Telugu movie fans.
Tollywood actor Balakrishna, who is basking in the blockbuster success of his last film Akhanda, has also thrown his hat into the Sankranti contest. He’s coming out with another over-the-top action drama called Veera Simha Reddy. Written and directed by Gopichand Malineni of Krack fame, the film stars Kannada star Duniya Vijay in a key role. It also has Shruti Haasan, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, and Honey Rose in the supporting cast.
While Waltair Veerayya is expected to hit theatres on January 11, Veera Simha Reddy is likely to release on January 12. Such strong competition in the Telugu states, which is the home ground for Prabhas’ movie, creates a very unfavourable environment for Adipurush at the box office.
Not just in the Telugu states, the film’s earning prospects will also be cut short in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Tamil superstar Ajith’s Thunivu is also releasing during the Pongal holiday. Understandably, most of the 1200-odd screens in Tamil Nadu will favour Varisu and Thunivu over Adipurush. The circumstances won’t be any different in Kerala, where Vijay and Ajith command a huge fan following.
Adipurush may simply not find a sufficient number of screens in the southern states that justifies its scale and scope. Considering the budget of the movie, which is said to be more than the cost of two Baahubali films, it’s a risky proposition for producers to compromise on the screen count to stick to their original release plan.
And we cannot also discount the damage that was done by the teaser of Adipurush. The reactions to the teaser were so extreme that the market, at the moment, is not just conducive but looks hostile to the film. The teaser was received with a great sense of shock. The audience was blindsided as they didn’t expect to see a mix of live-action and animation. The VFX work was dismissed as substandard by many, leaving the film’s cast and crew in an awkward place. Written and directed by Om Raut, the film is based on Indian epic Ramayana and it also stars Kriti Sanon and Saif Ali Khan in key roles.
Many wondered how Om Raut and his team would find a quick fix for Adipurush’s PR crisis and faulty VFX, with just three months to its big release. In this light, it would make complete sense if the makers decide to put the film’s theatrical launch on hold for some time. It would allow them to go back to the drawing board, strategize a public outreach campaign that would help overcome the devastating blow dealt by the teaser and work on the film’s special effects. Otherwise, neither the producers nor the career of Prabhas can stand a box office failure of this scale.
