Tovino’s Exit: A Big Blow to ‘NTR–Neel’?

Popular Malayalam actor Tovino Thomas is supposed to make his Tollywood debut with NTR’s upcoming pan-India biggie Dragon(Reported title), which has director Prashanth Neel at the helm. For quite some time now, there have been reports that Tovino will play NTR’s nemesis in this film and a massive face-off episode involving both actors was planned by Neel in Jordan. 

In a shocking development, Tovino Thomas has now officially revealed that he is no longer a part of NTR’s Dragon due to busy schedule. Tovino openly stated that he was not able to allot dates for a year long period to Telugu films which is quite contrary to the working culture in Malayalam film industry where movies are wrapped up in straight schedules within three months. 

During his latest media interaction, he said ” It is hard to allocate dates for the film. I am not doing it. I would love to do Telugu films. In the Malayalam industry, the working culture is very different. In Telugu, we should shoot for multiple schedules, whereas in Malayalam we complete in a single schedule.” 

He further added “I don’t like to take up multiple films at the same time. I like to complete one and take up the next film. That’s how I did so many films in my short career. Telugu movies are bigger. If I do one Telugu film, it would impact my Malayalam films. It is very hard to break my commitments.” 

The Minnal Murali actor seems to have taken a very clear stand on his dates irrespective of whatever projects he take up. He openly stated that he cannot allot one complete year for a single film at the cost of many other commitments. So, it unclear whether Neel demanded more dates from Tovino to complete his portions or not.  

Dragon went on floors way back in 2024, but the shoot got delayed for a long period during last year. It seems like the inordinate delay is because of Tovino’s exit from the project. 

When a versatile and talented actor like Tovino Thomas is hell bent on not wasting too much time for Telugu movies which usually take protracted period to complete the entire shooting part, it is now upto the directors to either agree to his conditions or else search for alternative actors who can fit to their working style.