These are tough times and the effects are visible for people from all walks of life. With several states across India announcing yet another lockdown and Tamil Nadu as now following suit, the impact of the pandemic and the Omicron variant is making statesmen and women take a step back in revising the order of the daily schedules in an effort to restore balance to a safe livelihood for all. And, that includes the film and entertainment community, which is also facing a big-time crunch as a result of the Covid-19, with the light at the end of the tunnel now looking a bit farther away due to the ramifications of the Omicron variant over the past few days. On Wednesday morning, the news of the much-awaited pan-Indian venture, Radhe Shyam, getting postponed took social media by storm and has once brought one question into the big perspective - how its push back will impact the film, the trade, and the industry as a whole. 

Radhe Shyam, which began production after mid-2018, has been billed to be one of the biggest films to be coming out in Indian cinema and the promotions have been a grand testimony to the fact. The Radhe Shyam pre-release event that was held in Hyderabad last month amidst much fanfare gave a glimpse at not only the level of anticipation for the film but also the expectations of the industry as it is carrying a business of seismic proportions. As Covid-19 brought life to a complete standstill in 2020, film productions around the world took a major hit, and the Prabhas and Pooja Hegde-starrer, which was still in the middle of its shoot, had to stop from going any further. The Radhe Shyam pre-release event that saw wide coverage on social media also showed that fans are waiting for new content on the big screen and the grand visuals teased in the promotional material proved that point. 

With crores already invested on promotions alone, there is a lot riding on Radhe Shyam and the news of the film getting delayed yet again to an indefinite date now has indeed created a big ripple. The biggest factor will be on the production's side and the distributors will be regarding the release plan going forward as Baahubali director SS Rajamouli's period action drama, RRR, starring Jr. NTR and Ram Charan, were forced to face a similar outcome last week. As state governments around the country are once again mandating the lockdown, all sights will be set on the number of Covid-19 positive cases to come down at a quick rate and the only visible time slot for the makers of Radhe Shyam will be to hope for a release slot sometime in February or March considering several big ventures have already been announced to open in theatres in April. Producers Vamsi and Pramod of UV Creations and Gopi Krishna Movies Private Limited's UV Krishnam Raju, who is presenting the film, will likely do a complete turnaround and hold talks with distributors from around the country to figure out a compatible solution to bring out the film in theatres as envisioned earlier on a grand scale. The only possible big date the team will now be pinning their hopes on will be for Valentine's Day release and only time will tell us how things pan out.