Catherine Is Back With Chiru! What About Old Rumours?

Megastar Chiranjeevi is teaming up with director Anil Ravipudi, and the shoot is all set to begin in the third week of this month. The formal puja and launch are already done, so the team is directly heading to the sets. Anil has finalised the script and locked most of the cast.

As speculated earlier, Nayanthara will play the female lead. Though there’s no official announcement yet, inside reports say the production house agreed to her high remuneration because her role is quite important. Catherine Tresa has been signed as the second heroine.

Now here comes an interesting flashback—Catherine actually had a chance to work with Chiranjeevi back in 2017. She was the first choice for Khaidi No.150, Chiru’s comeback film, when VV Vinayak was directing. But due to some creative differences with Chiru’s daughter Sushmita, Catherine was replaced by Kajal Aggarwal. Neither side clarified anything back then, so the rumors seemed true.

Cut to 9 years later—Catherine has finally bagged a role alongside Chiru. Though she’s the second lead, there’s talk that she’ll feature in at least one or two songs with him.

So far, the makers have managed to keep the story under wraps, which is making fans super curious. The buzz is that Anil Ravipudi is aiming to bring back the vintage fun of Gang Leader, Rowdy Alludu, and Gharana Mogudu. Venkatesh is also part of the film, but they’re keeping that under tight wraps for now. The team plans to roll out updates in a structured promotional strategy, though leaks are already causing some stress. The film is being planned for a grand release during Sankranthi 2026.