Prabhas’ The Raja Saab to release on January 9, 2026.

With the Telugu cine workers calling off their 18-day strike, Prabhas’ long-delayed The Raja Saab is finally nearing completion and gearing up for release.

Prabhas began shooting for the film’s final schedule in Hyderabad this week. The much-anticipated project, directed by Maruthi, was earlier slated for release on December 5, 2025. However, the target could not be met.

Now, the makers have locked January 9, 2026, as the release date, coinciding with the Pongal festival weekend.

This means audiences are in for one of the biggest South Indian box-office battles in recent years. The Raja Saab will go head-to-head with Chiranjeevi’s mass entertainer Mana Shiva Shankar Vara Prasad Garu, Naveen Polishetty’s comedy caper Anaganaga Oka Raju, and Vijay’s Tamil powerhouse release Jana Nayagan.

Each of these films carries enormous star power and caters to different demographics — Prabhas banking on his pan-India action-hero image, Chiranjeevi drawing the family and mass audiences, Vijay commanding a strong Tamil market (and spillover in Telugu states), while Naveen Polishetty has carved a niche among younger, urban audiences. Trade circles are already buzzing that the Pongal 2026 holiday frame could see record footfalls, with the films dividing theatres and testing true audience loyalty.