The harvest festival of Sankranti brings a bounty of Telugu movie releases.
This time, it is the clash of the titans Chiranjeevi and Nandamuri Balakrishna at the box office. Their films -- Khaidi No 150 and Gautamiputra Satakarni respectively -- are releasing on consecutive days, January 11 and 12.
The other major film Shatamanam Bhavati is releasing on January 14.
Khaidi No 150
Cast: Chiranjeevi, Kajal Aggarwal
Director: VV Vinayak
Release date: January 11
The first festival release, Khaidi No 150 will be Chiranjeevi's comeback film.
There was so much speculation about who would direct it. After listening to many scripts, the megastar zeroed down on doing a remake of the Tamil film Kaththi (starring Vijay, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Neil Nitin Mukesh, directed by AR Murugadoss).
Chiranjeevi will return to the silver screen after nine years, his last one being Shankardada MBBS (a remake of Munnabhai MBBS).
Khaidi No 150 is produced by Chiranjeevi's son Ram Charan Teja and has been infused with humour, thereby attuned to Telugu sensibilities.
Devisriprasad scores music, Ratnavelu handles the camera and Gowtham Raju edits the film.
Click here to see pictures from the film.
Gautamiputra Satakarni
Cast: Hema Malini, Nandamuri Balakrishna, Shriya Saran
Director: Krish Jagarlamudi
Release date: January 12
Nandamuri Balakrishna's 100th film is a historical, and it chronicles the life of Satavahana ruler Gautamiputra Satakarni, one of the greatest rulers of that dynasty who ruled between 78 and 102 AD.
One has to wait and see how the director has dealt with the accomplishments of this king, who established a vast empire, administered it well and extended patronage to trade guilds. He and his successor took the name of their mothers Gautami and Vasisthi in their names.
The film has been produced by Sai Babu Jagarlamudi and Y Rajeev Reddy on First Frame Entertainment banner and directed by Krish, who has carved a niche for himself with his realistic story-telling.
Kannada actor Shivraj Kumar and Kabir Bedi add to the cast. Being a historical, the film has got tax exemption in Telangana.
Shatamanam Bhavati
Cast: Sharwananad, Anupama Parameswaran
Director: Satish Vegesna
Release date: January 14
Sharwanad returns with this 2017 release after giving us Express Raja last year.
He has cast Anupama Parameswaran, the girl who made it big with the Malayalam film Premam and entered Telugu tinsel town with its remake.
Shatamanam Bhavati is Dil Raju's 25th production.
