Will a fourth wave of the pandemic disrupt release plans of 777 Charlie and Vikrant Rona?

Earlier today, social media discussions about upcoming Kannada film releases centred around the possibility of a fourth wave of the Coronavirus pandemic upsetting the plans of several projects lined up for release, including Rakshit Shetty’s 777 Charlie and Sudeep’s Vikrant Rona. Industry insiders also suggest that there have been discussions about possible pandemic clamp downs yet again, including 50% theatre occupancy, by the end of May. While there is no official confirmation on this yet, it is being said that the daily increase of about 3,000+ cases in Karnataka is worrisome.

In fact, when OTTplay reached out to Manjunath Gowda, the producer of Kiccha Sudeep’s Vikrant Rona, about when the team was planning to start promotions, he had said that they would begin in a week or two depending on how the pandemic situation plays out in the state. Vikrant Rona was earlier meant to release in February, but was pushed ahead amid fears of the third wave. Same was the case with 777 Charlie, which was supposed to release on December 31, 2021. It is being said that restrictions on theatre occupancy could be imposed as early as mid-May, which will force bigger films to push their release dates ahead again.

Just yesterday, Sudeep had taken to Twitter to assure fans that a new update about Vikrant Rona would be out soon, writing, “No,,, we havent forgotten our word to u frnzz.❤️Jus have been working on it . Been making sure everythn is perfect bfr we bring it in front of you. Now we are almost there. Bringing to you,,, An announcement tats an excitement. Very very soon . #VikrantRоna”.

Team 777 Charlie had also announced a new collaboration with Telugu star Rana Daggubati for the film’s distribution in Telangana/AP. But if the buzz in industry circles is to be believed, Rakshit and Sudeep may have to relook their release plans, after all.