In September 2023, an unexpected announcement was made regarding director Surender Reddy’s collaboration with actor-politician Pawan Kalyan. This combination came as a big surprise to everyone because Surender Reddy was coming off from an embarrassing box office debacle in the form of Akhil’s Agent and also due to the fact that Pawan Kalyan was immersed with political commitments with no clarity on his availability.

As expected, Surender Reddy’s project went into the state of oblivion as Pawan Kalyan didn’t even complete his pending projects like Hari Hara Veera Mallu, OG and Ustaad Bhagat Singh which he committed long ago. With Pawan Kalyan’s elevation as Deputy CM in the aftermath of 2024 elections, the chances for Surender Reddy’s project to materialize deteriorated further. It was almost certain that the project will be shelved due to Pawan Kalyan’s busy political activities and his pending films which are under shoot.

The only glimmer of hope left for Surender Reddy is that because Pawan Kalyan has decided to honour all his film commitments. Recently, he started shooting for both OG and Ustaad Bhagat Singh. There is a talk in the industry that Pawan might take up Surender Reddy’s film as well because producer Ram Talluri is his close friend.

Pawan Kalyan wants to complete Harish Shankar’s Ustaad Bhagat Singh in the next few months and then allot dates for Surender Reddy’s project. Even if Pawan commences the shooting formalities, there is no clarity on when he will wrap up his portion just like how OG and Ustaad Bhagat Singh were affected due to his political activities.

So, it is just a hope against hope for Surender Reddy to wait for Pawan Kalyan to avail himself for this project.