Puneeth Rajkumar's 'Chakravyuha' will not be released this week

Puneeth Rajkumar's "Chakravyuha," which was supposed to hit the screens on April 22, has been delayed by a week. Producer NK Lohith confirmed to a local daily that the movie will now be released on April 29.

The makers are planning to release "Chakravyuha" in a huge number of theatres. Producer Lohith estimates that the Kannada movie would be shown in over 250 screens in Karnataka alone. It will simultaneously get released in international centres as well, which is a rare scenario in Sandalwood.

Usually, Kannada movies are released abroad a few weeks after their theatrical release in Karnataka. But now that Sandalwood movies are getting a decent response in some overseas centres, filmmakers have started focusing on the big international market as well. In the recent years, "Rangi Taranga," "Mr. and Mrs. Ramachari," "Shivalinga" and many other films have done good business overseas.

NK Lohith also plans to hold premiere shows for "Chakravyuha" at different locations a day before its official release in India. The first show will be held in Australia. The producer also said the worldwide screen count of the movie is expected to reach 500.

"Chakravyuha" has already drawn viewers' attention with its audio album, which features a song sung by Telugu superstar Junior NTR. In fact, this alone has given good publicity to the Kannada movie. A few tracks from the film have also impressed the listeners. The trailer too has generated a good buzz around the film.

Written and directed by M Saravanan, who has earlier made Tamil films, and is now venturing into the Kannada film industry with "Chakravyuha," it is said to be the remake of the Tamil movie "Ivan Veramathiri," which was directed by Saravanan himself. But makers say 90 percent of the script has undergone changes and only the outline of the story has been retained.

The film features a romantic track between Puneeth Rajkumar and Rachita Ram, and has Kollywood actor Arun Vijay playing the role of a villain. Sadhu Kokila, Abhimanyu Singh, Bhavya and others form the rest of the cast.