Sekhar Kammula’s ‘Love Story’ defers theatrical release, amid surging COVID-19 cases

With the surging number of COVID-19 cases across India, including Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, how feasible and logical is it to allow cinema halls to function with 100% occupancy? This has been a question on many minds, though the respective State governments are yet to announce any restrictive measures. However, the team of director Sekhar Kammula’s Telugu film Love Story has set precedent by announcing its decision to postpone the film’s theatrical release.

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Love Story is directed by Sekhar Kammula and stars Naga Chaitanya and Sai Pallavi, and was scheduled to arrive in theatres on April 16. However, the team made an official announcement on Thursday evening stating its decision to postpone the release, after consulting distributors. The film is co-produced by Narayan Das K Narang and Puskar Ram Mohan Rao.

In a media briefing, actor Naga Chaitanya stated that since the film is bound to appeal to family audiences, and considering that it’s unsafe for viewers to flock to theatres in the current scenario, it was a unanimous decision to hold back the film’s release.

The new release date will be announced later. Meanwhile, there have been speculations if the other big summer releases will go ahead with their plans or similarly defer them, in the wake of the second wave of COVID-19 in India.

Among the films scheduled to release in April and May are Tuck Jagadish starring Nani, Virata Parvam starring Rana Daggubati and Sai Pallavi, and Acharya starring Chiranjeevi, among many others.

On Friday, the Pawan Kalyan starrer Vakeel Saab opened to packed cinema halls amid much fanfare, unmindful of the pandemic.