Telugu cinema industry was brought to a standstill after the lockdown was imposed in March to arrest the spread of Covid-19. Incidentally, the government of Telangana had permitted film shootings earlier this month, but Tollywood superstars are in mood to hurry things up just yet.
Interestingly enough, the likes of megastar Chiranjeevi, Mahesh Babu, Pawan Kalyan, and Allu Arjun are prioritizing health above all and they are vowing to stay away from shootings at least for the time being.
Chiranjeevi’s ‘Acharya’ had completed close to 40% of the shoot and the makers planned to release the film by the end of the year. But Covid-19 outbreak changed the scenario and the film will not hit the floors anytime soon.
Mahesh Babu’s ‘Sarkaru Vaari Paata’ was supposed to be shot almost entirely in the USA but that won’t be possible, given the travel restrictions that have been put in place. It is said that Parasuram is modifying the script ij order to shoot the film in India. Mahesh is said to have made it clear to the makers that he won’t be shooting till normalcy is restored.
Pawan Kalyan’s Vakeel Saab has neared completion and there is a very small portion of the film left to be shot. But Pawan is not interested in resuming shoot. Instead, he is willing to take a pay cut in order to reduce the financial burden on the producers.
Allu Arjun’s ‘Pushpa’ will hit the floors only towards the end of the year. The makers are planning to erect a forest set in Hyderabad, where key sequences in the film will be shot. Sukumar had to cancel his foreign shoot plans and will have to shoot the film in India.
Tollywood big-ticket films are expected to commence shoot only after the situation comes under control.