Story teller Lokesh Kanagaraj last directed the Rajinikanth starrer Coolie. The film had an ensemble cast of actors including Nagarjuna, Soubin Shahir, Upendra, Shruthi Haasan, Sathyaraj, and Rachita Ram. The drama opened to mixed reviews but had a great run in the box office. However, director Lokesh Kanagaraj was severely criticized for his pointlessly lavish film making style and lackluster content. He gracefully accepted the criticism and assured to do better in his future ventures.
The Kaithi director was away from the limelight after the success of Coolie. But starting last month, he covertly frequented Hyderabad. In no time the media got a whiff of his travels. Soon speculation started to fly that he is going to direct actor Allu Arjun’s next movie. Now it turns out the speculations are true. And he is indeed onboard to craft Allu Arjun’s next project tentatively christened AA 23. The production house themselves has officially announced the news on social media.
Taking to his official X profile, actor Allu Arjun himself shared an announcement video and wrote, “I SAY 23. Going on a spree. Low-Key G Locked in mentally. That’s a guarantee! Excited about the new journey with the Maverick Lokesh Kanagaraj garu & at last with brother Anirudh Ravichander. Can’t wait for this one.” Here is the post made by the actor.
Nearly one-minute animated announcement video unfolds with a theme song. It opens to the shot of sunrise and pans to a deer grassing to then an eagle flying. The shot cuts to a man walking beside a campfire and pulling up his kada. We then have a close-up eye shot of actor Allu Arjun.
Following which we see a man on a horse’s back on top of a cliff in parade position. It ends with a pack of wolves howling and charging at a lion. But retreats after the thundering roar of the lion. The lyrics for the theme song are written by Heisenberg and sung by Hector Salamanca.
AA 23 will be in line with Lokesh Kanagaraj’s adrenaline rushing heroic bloodshed film making style. It will be a pan Indian film releasing in languages Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi. The shoot for the movie is scheduled to begin in the month of March. Actor Allu Arjun is fresh from the blockbuster record box office collection secured by the celebrated Pushpa franchise. Hence, the expectations on this project have skyrocketed among the fans of the action genre.
Music director Anirudh Ravichander has been brought on board to compose music for the flick. This is his fifth association with director Lokesh Kanagaraj after their successful outing in Master, Vikram, Leo, and Coolie. Meanwhile, it is his maiden collaboration with actor Allu Arjun. The makers are yet to finalize the technical crew.
The casting team is currently busy shortlisting the rest of the artists that will round out the cast. An official announcement regarding the same is expected to be made soon. The entertainer is bankrolled by Naveen Yerneni and Y Ravi Shankar under the production house Mythri Movie Makers.
2026 is going to be an eventful year for director Lokesh Kanagaraj. Beside his Telugu foray, he will also be making his debut as a lead hero in Kollywood with DC helmed by director Arun Matheswaran of Rocky and Saani Kaayidham fame. Actress Wamiqa Gabbi will be playing the female lead role in the entertainer.
On the work side, actor Allu Arjun is currently busy shooting for his next science fiction movie tentatively titled AA 22 X A 6 under the direction of story teller Atlee in which he will be sharing screen space with actresses Deepika Padukone, Rashmika Mandanna, and Mrunal Thakur.
