Golden Star Ganesh’s Baanadariyalli bows out of the March 17 box office race

Baanadariyalli is director Preetham Gubbi’s fourth collaboration with his long-time pal, Golden Star Ganesh. The film, which pairs Ganesh with Rukmini Vasanth and Reeshma Nanaiah, has been described as ‘not a love story, but a story about love’. Preetham had announced that he was bringing the film to theatres on March 17 and released the first single as well, but shortly after director-producer R Chandru also zeroed in on the day for his much-awaited pan-India gangster flick, Kabzaa.

Ever since a Ganesh vs Upendra clash at the box office became a talking point on social media, netizens have been urging Preetham to reconsider his plans and push the film ahead, given that promotions for his film have not started in full swing, whereas Chandru has a line-up of events in different cities, starting with the first single to be launched on February 4 in Hyderabad.

Today, news broke that Preetham has paid heed after all and postponed the release of Baanadariyalli, although there has been no official word from the filmmaker or his leading man. Preetham’s pinned tweet is still the March 17 release announcement. It is being speculated that an official announcement will happen in a day or two with a new release date, presumably mid-April. Netizens think April 14 may be the next probable date, although there are also calls for Preetham to advance the release and maybe even target an end of February outing, given that there aren’t any big-ticket movies coming out now.

March 17 being the birth anniversary of the late Power Star Puneeth Rajkumar, it is also being said that the teams of his last two films, James and Gandhada Gudi may look at re-releasing both titles in theatres. There’s also talk that some of the actor’s earlier films may also be back in movie halls. The date is also the chosen day for the Shazam sequel – Shazam! Fury of the Gods with Zachary Levi.