Telugu cinema has plenty of heroes who drink their troubles away. Allari Naresh's next film flips that. Alcohol, his action comedy, is built around a man who won't drink at all, and it now has a release date.
Sithara Entertainments, the production house behind the film, said on Thursday that Alcohol will open worldwide on December 18. "The countdown to madness begins! #Alcohol is all set for a GRAND WORLDWIDE RELEASE ON DECEMBER 18th! Brace yourselves for a WILD ride!" the banner posted on X.
The announcement ends a long wait. The film's teaser came out last year and set up the premise with a playful exchange between Naresh and comedian Satya.
In the teaser, Satya can't understand why a man who earns "lakhs and lakhs" doesn't drink. Naresh dodges at first: "What is the connection between earnings and drinking?" Then he jokes that if he drank, Satya would have no one to drive him home. Pushed for a serious answer, he says: "If we drink, we will not be under our control. I do not like alcohol controlling me."
The teaser then turns. Satya says he has quit drinking himself and wonders whom he should throw a party for. Naresh lists his friends — Secret Sharath, Sound Sunder, Ramesh, Suresh, Subash and Sanya — and says they will do the drinking. When Satya asks what happens if they refuse, Naresh answers in a menacing tone: "Get them to drink."
That last line shows what the film is going for. It isn't a lecture against drinking. It's a comedy about control: a sober man who seems to enjoy pulling the strings while everyone around him loses theirs.
Why the December slot matters for Naresh
For Allari Naresh, the timing is significant. He made his name with fast, spoof-heavy comedies, then spent recent years in harder dramas such as Naandhi and Ugram, which earned him more respect as an actor. Alcohol looks like an attempt to combine the two: the comic timing his longtime fans want, with an action edge and a darker streak for the newer audience.
A mid-December release also sets the film up for the holiday period, when families and young viewers go to theatres in larger numbers and a comedy can keep running into the New Year if word of mouth is good. It also signals confidence from Sithara Entertainments, which has backed mid-budget Telugu entertainers steadily in recent years.
The cast is large. Besides Naresh, Ruhani Sharma, Niharika NM and Satya, the film features Girish Kulkarni, Harshavardhan, Chaitanya Krishna, Ravindra Vijay, Raghu Babu, Venkatesh Kakumanu, Kireeti, Hariteja, Surya Bhagavan Das and Flora Jacob in pivotal roles.
The crew is strong too. Tamil composer Ghibran writes the music, Chaitan Bharadwaj composes the background score, Jiju Sunny is the cinematographer and Niranjan Devaramane edits. Suryadevara Naga Vamsi and Sai Soujanya produce under Sithara Entertainments and Fortune Four Cinemas, and Srikara Studios presents the film.
With a title that grabs attention and a premise that turns a familiar trope around, Alcohol goes into December as one of the more curious Telugu releases of the season. Whether its sober hero can draw audiences into theatres will be clear on December 18.
