6 January 2023
Hyderabad

It has been a week of announcements from the team of Samantha Ruth Prabhu-starrer Shaakuntalam. On the heels of announcing the release date and the participation of Budapest Symphony Orchestra for the film’s re-recording, the makers on Friday revealed that the film’s trailer will be dropped on January 9. “A whimsical tale of epic love beckons. Get ready to enter the world of #Shaakuntalam! #ShaakuntalamTrailer on Jan 9th at 12:06 PM,” tweeted production house Gunaa Teamworks on Friday.

While the release is very early for Tollywood standards and for a big film like Shaakuntalam, it sure demonstrates that the makers are keen to transport the viewers into the era gone by pretty early and swell expectations around it. Maybe they have one more ace (the second trailer) up their sleeve, which they intend to drop as the film draws close to the release.

Samantha has already started dubbing for the film. On her Instagram page Thursday, she quoted author Nikki Rowe to indicate that it is in the work that she finds solace.

“Art is my cure to all this madness, sadness and loss of belonging in the world & through it I’ll walk myself home. – Nikki Rowe,” she wrote with the hashtag Shaakuntalam.

Based on Kalidasa's acclaimed Sanskrit play Abhijnana Shakuntalam, the film, which is Gunasekhar’s new project after the historical Rudhramadevi, revolves around the epic love story of Shakuntala and King Dushyant, portrayed by Samantha and Dev Mohan (Malayalam) respectively.

Dr M Mohan Babu will be seen playing a key supporting role, while the likes of Sachin Khedekar, Kabir Bedi, Prakash Raj, Madhubala, Gautami, Aditi Balan, Ananya Nagalla and Jisshu Sengupta complete the other supporting cast.

Shaakuntalam is presented by Dil Raju via Sri Venkateswara Creations in collaboration with Gunaa Teamworks and is produced by Neelima Guna.

A Mani Sharma musical, the film will sail into cinemas in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi on February 17. It will have a 3D release as well.