Vijay Deverakonda, one of the leading youth stars in the Telugu film industry, is gearing up his next release Kingdom which is slated to hit the screens on July 31. However, the actor has suffered a big blow ahead of the film's release.
According to entertainment portal named 'Entertainment AF', Vijay was hospitalised earlier this week after being diagnosed with dengue fever. At the moment, he is said to be under observation and has been responding positively to treatment. While an official statement is expected from the actor's side, the portal has already reported that Deverakonda is expected to be discharged by July 20. The release of Kingdom is unlikely to be affected by this development.
Deverakonda was a notable absentee during the recent promotional events of Kingdom, raising concerns amongst the general public. This development reasonable explains the reason behind the star's absence.
Directed by Gowtam Tinnanuri of Jersey fame, Kingdom features Vijay Deverakonda and Bhagyashri Borse in lead roles with Satyadev also playing a key character in the film. Anirudh Ravichander's music has already created waves amongst the public and the promos of Kingdom have also managed to create reasonable buzz amongst the masses.
Kingdom was initially slated for a March 30 release this year but subsequent challenges in production and post-production forced a lengthy delay in release. This project is crucial for Deverakonda whose last box office success was Taxiwala that came way back in 2018. His subsequent projects have mostly been hyped films like Dear Comrade, Liger, Kushi and The Family Star.
However, all the films tanked at the box office with only Dear Comrade salvaging some pride for Deverakonda as his performance was well-received even with the inevitable comparisons to Arjun Reddy. His boxing drama Liger was touted to be his pan-India vehicle with Karan Johar also joining in the project but it misfired completely at the box office across all languages.
Subsequently, Deverakonda tried to tone down the intensity of his films, opting for feel-good commercial films like Kushi and The Family Star but the results remained the same. Now, all eyes are on Kingdom and whether he can regain his stardom. Before that, though, one hopes that Deverakonda returns to peak health at the earliest.