Allu Arjun's 'Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo' Hindi release called off

Mumbai, Jan 21:  The Hindi release of the Allu Arjun-starrer Telugu film 'Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo' has been called off to make way for the release of the Kartik Aaryan-led 'Shehzada'.

The statement issued on Friday read: "Manish Shah, promoter of Goldmines [Telefilms], along with the makers of 'Shehzada' have jointly decided to withdraw the theatrical release of 'Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo' Hindi version. 'Shehzada' makers are thankful to Manish Shah for agreeing to the same."

Goldmines Telefilms, incidentally, had picked up the Hindi rights of the Allu Arjun blockbuster, 'Pushpa: The Rise'.

'Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo', which also has Pooja Hegde and Tabu playing lead roles, was directed by Trivikram Srinivas, and produced by Allu Aravind. It follows the life of Allu Arjun's character, Bantu who is hated and neglected by his father. He later learns that he was swapped as an infant and his biological father is an affluent businessman.

'Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo' is the famous line from the fifteenth-century Telugu Vaishnava poet Bammera Pothana's mythological story 'Gajendra Mokshanam', where Lord Vishnu comes down to save Gajendra, the elephant king, from Makaram, a crocodile.

The Telugu original, released in 2020, emerged as one the highest-grossing Indian films of that year.