Pawan Kalyan's Ustaad Bhagat Singh shifts release date to March 19 after Toxic moves to June, to clash with Dhurandhar 2

Harish Shankar and Pawan Kalyan's much-delayed Ustaad Bhagat Singh was initially scheduled to be released on March 26 but has been preponed.

As the makers of Geetu Mohandas and Yash’s Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups announced that their film has been postponed amid the US-Israel-Iran conflict, Harish Shankar’s Pawan Kalyan-starrer Ustaad Bhagat Singh moved up their date to take the slot. The film, initially scheduled for release later this month, will not hit screens on March 19 for Ugadi and will clash with Aditya Dhar’s Ranveer Singh-starrer Dhurandhar 2.

Harish Shankar's adaptation of Theri with Pawan Kalyan is titled Ustaad Bhagat Singh.

Ustaad Bhagat Singh release date preponed

On Thursday, the makers of Pawan’s Ustaad Bhagat Singh announced that the film has been preponed from March 26 to March 19. Mythri Movie Makers, the producer of the film, wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Ustad massacre this Ugadi. Our USTAAD arrives a week early to spark Massive celebrations at the box office. #UstaadBhagatSingh GRAND RELEASE WORLDWIDE ON 19th MARCH, 2026.” Ustaad Bhagat Singh is an adaptation of Atlee and Vijay’s 2016 film Theri and has been in production since 2023. Sreeleela, Raashii Khanna, and others play key roles. Devi Sri Prasad and Thaman S composed the film’s music and background score.

Yash’s Kannada-English film Toxic postponed

On Wednesday, the makers of Toxic released a statement that the film has been postponed due to uncertainty in the Middle East. The statement read: “After years of dedicated labour, we were excited to share our film with you all on the 19th of March. However, the current uncertainty, especially in the Middle East, has created a situation that impacts our goal to reach and connect with the widest possible audience. Therefore, in the interest of our partners and our audience, we have made the difficult but carefully considered decision to reschedule our release.” The film will now be released on June 4.

Clash with Aditya Dhar, Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar 2

Buchi Babu Sana-Ram Charan’s Peddi and Srikanth Odela-Nani’s The Paradise were also supposed to hit screens in March but were postponed. This left the field wide open for a clash between Toxic and Dhurandhar: The Revenge, aka Dhurandhar 2. However, with Toxic’s postponement, Dhurandhar 2 will get a wide release worldwide, as will Ustaad Bhagat Singh. Given that Dhurandhar, released in December last year, crossed ₹1300 crore worldwide, it remains to be seen whether the sequel can top that. A trailer for the film has yet to be released.

Pawan’s 2025 releases, Hari Hara Veera Mallu and They Call Him OG, brought in ₹116.88 crore and ₹295.22 crore worldwide, respectively. It remains to be seen how Ustaad Bhagat Singh will fare.