MG Srinivas’ Old Monk gets four tentative release dates; February 11’s still one of them

Actor-director MG Srinivas’ next is the romantic comedy Old Monk, in which he is paired with his Ranganayaki co-star, Aditi Prabhudeva. The film has been ready for a while and Srini, as the filmmaker is popularly known, had zeroed in on February 11 as the release date, in a direct clash with actor-director Darling Krishna’s Love Mocktail sequel. But ever since the third wave of the pandemic broke out and cases saw a steady rise, the state government had imposed restrictions on theatres, allowing only 50% capacity, which was further hampered by night and weekend curfews. While weekend curfew has been withdrawn, the other restrictions remain, which severely limit the business prospects of films choosing to release now.

Although weekend curfew was supposed to be on till the end of the month, the fact that the government revised this, gives filmmakers hope that theatres will also function at 100% capacity soon. While Srini has not announced a change in the release plans of Old Monk, his recent social media post teases a new schedule, which is contingent on biggies like Vikrant Rona, RRR, etc., not sticking to their dates. The post, designed to look like a desi Money Heist poster, digitally altered with the faces of the Old Monk cast, read, “If Corona effects subside, it's Feb 11th. If the release of Vikrant Rona is postponed, then it's Feb 24th. If RRR is postponed, it's April 24th and if it is none of the above, Old Monk will be released in May".

The film is a fictionalized account of mythology, involving Krishna, Rukmini and Narada muni, which then pans out in modern day. When Rukmini walks out on Krishna after a fight, the latter ends up cursing Narada to a life on earth, with the curse to be broken only if he manages to fall in love with someone and have her family accept him as well. But then, he is sent into a family that does not approve of love relationships. Will he be able to break his curse and return to Devaloka forms the crux of the story.