Rana Daggubati’s multilingual film Haathi Mere Saathi will release on March 26, the actor announced in a tweet today. The film, titled Kaadan in Tamil and Aranya in Telugu, was to have released this month to coincide with Pongal. “Welcoming the new year and the new normal, we are excited to bring Haathi Mere Saathi, Aranya and Kaadan on 26th March in a theatre near you,” Rana Daggubati tweeted. Haath Mere Saathi was originally slated for release last April but was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdown, like so many other films. The film is directed by Prabhu Solomon and co-stars Pulkit Samrat, Vishnu Vishal, Shriya Pilgaonkar and Zoya Hussain. See Rana Daggubati’s announcement here:

Welcoming the new year and the new normal, we are excited to bring #HaathiMereSaathi, #Aranya, and #Kaadan on 26th March, in a theatre near you! #PrabuSolomon@PulkitSamrat@TheVishnuVishal@zyhssn@ShriyaP@ErosSTX@ErosMotionPics@ErosNow

— Rana Daggubati (@RanaDaggubati) January 6, 2021

Haathi Mere Saathi, which takes its name from the 1871 film with Rajesh Khanna in the lead, features Rana Daggubati as Bandev, whose close companions are a herd of elephants. The 36-year-old actor, known for his imposing physique in films such as the Baahuabali series, lost 30-odd kilos for the role. His drastic transformation prompted concern from fans and triggered rumours about his health last year. Rana Daggubati dismissed the rumours at the time but revealed many months later that he had been seriously ill. Speaking to actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu on her talk show, Rana said, “There was BP (blood pressure), calcification around your heart and you have failed kidneys… It would have been a 70 percent chance of stroke or a haemorrhage and 30 percent chance of death.”