The highly awaited pan-India project ‘Devara’ will hit theatres on September 27. Ahead of the film’s release, the team cancelled the pre-release event scheduled for September 22 in Hyderabad at the last minute. Reportedly, several factors led to the cancellation of the event. Due to apprehensions about rain, the team decided to conduct the event indoors, however, the turnout exceeded the venue’s capacity manifolds, and the event became unmanageable.

The pre-release event for ‘Devara’ was slated to take place at the Novotel in Hyderabad on Sunday evening. The film’s director Koratala Siva, actors Jr NTR and Janhvi Kapoor, and special guests like director Trivikram Srinivas and producer Naga Vamsi were going to attend. However, the team cancelled  the pre-release in an unanticipated turn of events.  Since then, disappointed fans have taken over social media and expressed regret over not being able to meet Jr NTR. They blamed the team for mismanagement and questioned their decision to pick a closed venue. Following the cancellation, the actors have also released statements expressing their regret.

5k capacity ki 15 k vacharu,
Open area lo plan cheyalsindhi
Event almost cancelled Worst decision by producers…and event Organizers #Devara #JrNTR pic.twitter.com/QeW2ymdJrY

— ram reddy (@ramreddy667202) September 22, 2024

On the flip side, ‘Devara’s team claims that they faced several challenges while planning the pre-release event scheduled ‘close to Ganesh Nimarjanam’. They added that ‘heavy rains’ created hindrances, rationalising their decision to not choose an open-air venue. The team wrote, “Even though it didn’t rain today conditions wouldn’t have been favourable for an outdoor event to happen even if we had planned it”. They also added, “The massive turnout of fans despite our best efforts became uncontrollable as barricades were broken due to the overwhelming crowd. For the safety of everyone we had to make the tough decision to call off the event.”

Additionally, star Jr NTR also released a video statement addressing the issue. The actor stated in Telugu, “It hurts me that the Devara pre-release event was cancelled, you know it hurts me. I wanted to meet you (fans) in person and share our journey with you. But we had to cancel it due to security reasons. My pain is bigger than yours in this regard. But this is not the producers’ or event organisers’ fault”. Ending the video on a positive note, the actor said that he hopes that fans love his upcoming release and raise their collars in pride.

We regret being in this situation but are forever grateful to our beloved Man of Masses NTR’s fans.

The biggest celebration awaits. See you in theatres on Sept 27th.#Devara #DevaraOnSep27th pic.twitter.com/oSXa2ga6Za

— Devara (@DevaraMovie) September 22, 2024

Echoing similar sentiments, Jahnvi Kapoor also issued a video statement in Telugu. In the video, Jahnvi said, “You have loved me as one of your own. I know how important you are to my mother (Sridevi), and know that you’re important to me also and I will work hard to ensure that you are proud of me. I hope you like this attempt of mine, and I would like to thank Koratala sir and NTR sir for choosing me”. Sharing the video, she wrote in Telugu, “I thought I would say these words to you myself. But not this time. Hope to see you all soon. For now, this is from me to you. This short message…See you in theatres on 27th of September #Devara.”

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Helmed by Siva Koratala, ‘Devara’ boasts a stellar cast. The list includes Saif Ali Khan as Bhaira and Janhvi Kapoor as Thangam in lead roles alongside Jr NTR. Yuvasudha Arts and N. T. R. Arts have produced the two part film. ‘Devara: Part I’ releases on September 27 in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada.