It has been more than seven months since 'Bhale Bhale Mogadivoy' director Maruthi scored a blockbuster with 'Prathi Roju Pandage'. And the director, strangely, has had to wait indefinitely to announce his next project. The pandemic has slowed down things considerably and his wait has become longer and longer.

It's learned that Maruthi's options are very limited. He would have liked to work with 'Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo' star Allu Arjun. However, that's next to impossible now. After Sukumar's 'Pushpa', Bunny will have to move on to Koratala Siva's film.

Why not a reliable star hero like Nani? Well, the 'V' actor has to complete Shiva Nirvana's 'Tuck Jagadeesh' and Rahul Sankrityan's 'Shyam Singha Roy'. The Natural Star will be naturally too busy to allocate dates for a Maruthi film.

That leaves him with actors like Varun Tej, Ravi Teja and Sai Dharam Tej. RaviTeja has got films with the likes of Trinadha Rao Nakkina and Ramesh Varma. He is not too enthusiastic to accept new projects. SDT is not an option, for Maruthi has worked with him on 'PRP' already.

Varun Tej is a prospective lead. Apart from his untitled boxing drama, the 'F2' actor hasn't announced any other project.