Notably, films depicting the Air Force are a rarity in Telugu cinema, thus making this actioner a big box office gamble.The film comes after the formidable success of Tom Cruise‘s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and the underperformance of Hrithik Roshan’s ‘Figther’ that revolved around similar airforce theme and terror backdrop.
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Varun Tej, known for offering unique experiences to his audience, courageously accepted the challenge of portraying a distinct narrative with his new offering. In an exclusive interview with ETimes, Varun Tej shared his thoughts on the project, expressing his enthusiasm for exploring uncharted territory in Telugu cinema. He remarked, “I think it is exciting to do something that hasn’t really been explored in Telugu Cinema. If you take Top Gun for example there is only a certain market that the film has tapped.Like people in the cities have seen it, the youngsters have seen it but there is also a market that hasn’t seen it yet … so there is no pressure but probably there was pressure on my director to keep up with what was happening. Like Top Gun is an exceptionally well made film, we had our challenges when we were filming it but we took it in our positive stride.”
The actor also opened up on how he and his film’s team have not tried to mimic the Cruise’s billion dollar box office blockbuster. He said, “If you are trying to mimic it that’s when you fall flat. We were not inspired by Top Gun, maybe some action blocks , maybe we wanted to get something close to that but when you see the conflict and the emotion behind it , that is our story , that is something that happened in our country … as long as your scripts are rooted , your subject is rooted , it’s ok.“
Directed by Shakti Pratap Singh Hada, the movie is scheduled to release in theatres on 1 March, 2024.