Titled Aranya in Telugu, Kaadan in Tamil and Haathi Mere Saathi in Hindi, director Prabhu Solomon’s film was initially scheduled to release on April 2, 2020, but was forced to change plans due to the pandemic. The pan-Indian film starring Rana Daggubati, Vishnu Vishal, Shriya Pilgaonkar and Zoya Hussain is now scheduled to release in theatres in January 2021 to coincide with the Sankranthi festival season.
The makers of Aranya announced the theatrical release with a new poster and video, highlighting the importance of saving the jungles: ‘As we fight together against the deadly pandemic, we must look to our forests for inspiration — the lungs of our planet that have long battled a growing pandemic of deforestation and industrialisation.”
Aranya is a fictional story based on true incidents. Rana plays Bandev, the jungle man, who stands up against urbanisation encroaching into jungle corridors. His character is inspired by environment activist Jadav Payeng. The Padma Shri winner who hails from the ‘Mising’ tribe in Assam, converted more than 1300 acres of barren land into a reserve forest. The film narrates the story of a man living in the jungle for 25 years and talks about ecological issues.
The film has music by Shantanu Moitra and cinematography by A R Ashok Kumar
