Mahesh Babu's '1-Nenokkadine' is releasing on the tenth of January with a plan to penetrate into the Pongal euphoria of Telugu speaking people. Let's look at what the insider talk doing rounds in Filmnagar.

The film has garnered such a hype aamong the fans and they have carried it out of the world. Reports are coming from across the world including multiplexes, single screens, 'C' class centers, even overseas theaters that advance and online bookings are like never before. It is learnt that even the charity show which is planned in the Mallikharjuna theater at 6 am in the morning has been sold out.

Mahesh has been on a song after 'Dookudu', following it up with Businessman and SVSC in 2013. Pongal has always been a strong time for the Superstar Mahesh Babu even from the days of his father Krishna. Mahesh had a great chemistry with the Sankranthi crowds with his films capturing the Box Office time and time again. So, he is on the home ground as far as the release is concerned.

Sukumar has a record of both surprising and shocking fans. With 'Arya', he delighted Bunny fans and the sequel, he confused and disappointed them. While 'Jagadam' has a cult following in some quarters, it was a failure at the BO. '100% Love', his silliest film as on today went on to make it big. So, it's always a knife edge with Sukumar. Especially, this is his first A-Star movie.

Music by Devi Sri Prasad has created quite a stir among the fans and raised the expectations from the film. The curiosity has grown multifolded since the composer is working for the first time with Mahesh too.

Krithi Sanon The Bombay babe is luring the young hearts with her looks and the song trailers especially of the 'Aww Tuzo Mogh Kortha' in which she goes on her knees begging Mahesh to love her has created ripples in the social media circles, to the extent of becoming controversial. The girl is also conspicuous by her absence in the film's promotion activities.

There are stories starting from Revenge formula like 'Nijam' in which he avenges his father's killer (Incidentally, the bespectacled Mahesh looks like he was in Nijam), to a 'Treasure Hunt' in which he goes in search of a missing person or a truth regarding his family. Both the sources however confirm that Gautham is Mahesh's younger version.

The producers’ trio Ram, Gopichand and Anil representing the 14 Reels Entertainment might be a little taken aback by the sudden IT raids yesterday at their offices. However since the onus is now on the distributors EROS, they would have breathed a sigh of relief. All the innovative promotion activities they have organized for the film seem to have paid off.

The movie is being released across the world in more than 2500 screens, penetrating into the corners of the world where Telugu diaspora is living. This strategy has worked tremendously in the recent times what with the film raking in huge sums irrespective of the audience's response to the film.

The 'Yevadu' factor

Ram Charan's 'Yevadu' is also releasing this weekend and will definitely pose a stiff competition to the film. However, with several factors working against 'Yevadu' and '1' having the prime mover adgvantage, it might be able to penetrate better into the Pongal crowds than the Dil Raju production.

So, with all the pieces perfectly in place, where could the film possibly go wrong. It could only be the pre-release hype and the expectations built among the fans and audiences. We have had films earlier with the same kind of anticipation falling flat at the Box Office. And looking at the prices the film has been sold to, it only dawns that the film has to be a 100 Crore venture to ensure its not a cost failure for the distributors too.

So Fans and Folks, grab the ticket at the nearest theater and watch the film tomorrow, the 10th January.