The theatrical release of 'Haathi Mere Saathi', the Hindi cousin of 'Aranya', has been put on hold by EROS International to avoid losses during the pandemic. Since Maharashtra, the stronghold of Bollywood, is in trouble due to the virus, Eros had to make the tough call.

The film was supposed to release simultaneously along with 'Aranya' and its Tamil cousin 'Kaadan' on March 26. Recently, Rana Daggubati said that Eros, which owns an OTT platform, didn't go for a direct-to-streamer release last year because the makers are determined to give a theatrical experience. Despite their best efforts, 'HMS' is not seeing a release anytime soon.

This decision is said to have been taken at a time when 'Roohi' and 'Mumbai Saga', the Hindi films, have underperformed at the Box-Office. Unlike a number of Telugu films in the past couple of months, there is nothing that is encouraging to Bollywood.

Directed by Prabhu Solomon, 'Aranya' will be at loggerheads with 'Rang De' this week.