Akhil Akkineni entered Tollywood with enormous expectations even before his debut. His launch hype was comparable to that of Ram Charan’s debut in Chirutha. His first film, Akhil, generated massive openings but fell flat due to disastrous word of mouth.
Akhil tried multiple times to establish himself as a bankable hero, but he could not find success. He managed a moderate success with Most Eligible Bachelor, but the failure of Agent pushed him back again. Now, he has pinned all his hopes on his upcoming film Lenin.
The film first aimed for a March-end release. It was then pushed to May 1 because of Ram Charan’s Peddi. Later, when Peddi itself shifted to April 30, Lenin was postponed again to June 26. Within days, it became clear that Peddi would not be ready even for that new date of April 30 and was postponed to June again.
Later, the makers locked Lenin for June 25. But the situation has turned uncertain again, as strong reports suggest that Peddi may again target the same date. Initially, the Peddi team thought to release on June 4 as they assumed Yash’s Toxic might get postponed from its June 4 release date. However, now it seems Toxic will stick to its planned schedule, and the makers of Peddi appear to have settled on June 25, leaving Lenin once again in a difficult position.
Lenin cannot realistically compete with a large-scale project like Peddi in terms of collections. The whole industry is widely awaiting Peddi’s release, and exhibitors would obviously give preference to it. This leaves the Lenin team with little choice but to consider postponement once again.
The repeated release date changes have already turned into a big headache for the film. Delays and online negativity have affected its buzz and hype, and another postponement could further reduce audience interest. We have to see how the team will handle the next announcement and what justification they will offer if they decide to shift the date yet again.
