These Top Heroes Shock Fans With Zero Releases In 2025

Some years hit the industry like a festival… noise, colour, posters everywhere. And then you get years like 2025, where it feels like someone dimmed the lights and the projector guy just… didn’t show up. The heroes were all busy, running between sets, patching schedules, pushing deadlines, but theatres stayed oddly quiet. Fans kept waiting for that one surprise trailer drop, but nope. Nothing. A strange silence from names who usually treat the box office like a playground.

Nikhil, Sai Durga Tej, Adivi Sesh, Varun Tej… these guys normally show up at least twice a year, sometimes more, like they’re allergic to breaks. But this time, not a single release. Doesn’t mean they were chilling. Nikhil spent the whole year buried in Swayambhu and The India House. Swayambhu should’ve hit screens already, but it crawled into 2026 because production kept dragging. The India House is still shooting and looks like an end-of-year arrival next time. Adivi Sesh, who went from Major to Hit 2 like a sprint, has now accidentally created a three-year gap. Decoit moved to March 19 next year, and G2 is stamped for May 1. So basically, both films will land almost back-to-back.

Sai Durga Tej had momentum in 2023 with Virupaksha and Bro, and then suddenly nothing. Sambarala Yeti Gattu missed Dussehra because shooting dragged, now aiming for summer. Varun Tej, after tasting two bitter results, slowed his speed and picked Merlapaka Gandhi’s horror-comedy carefully. That one will only show up in the first half of 2026. Naveen Polishetty faced a literal speed breaker, the accident. Anaganaga Oka Raju finally started this year and is headed for Sankranti. Akhil and Naga Shaurya, both hit by back-to-back flops, kind of retreated to rethink. Akhil’s Lenin and Shaurya’s Badboy Karthik are now wrapping up. Vaisshnav Tej, who burst in with Uppena, hasn’t delivered anything since 2023.

And then the “big missing faces.” The ones fans don’t usually expect to go quiet.

Megastar Chiranjeevi has been off screens for two years. Vishwambhara kept slipping because the VFX work turned into a monster, so now it’s a summer 2026 release. Mana Shankaravaraprasad Garu is technically coming, but since it’s already set for Sankranti, fans still felt like Chiru skipped 2025 entirely. He’s also kicking off a film with Bobby, but let’s be real, that won’t hit theatres next year. If everything goes right, Chiru might suddenly flood 2026 with three films, which is kind of funny after this long silence.

Mahesh Babu came with Guntur Kaaram last Sankranti and then disappeared straight into SS Rajamouli’s Varanasi. This thing is gigantic, shooting till the end of 2026, release only in summer 2027. Same with Allu Arjun. Even after the storm that Pushpa 2 created, his Atlee film is nowhere close. At this pace, 2027 feels realistic.

Prabhas stayed quiet after Kalki 2898 AD. The Raja Saab was supposed to be the 2025 big one, but VFX delays shoved it to next Sankranti. Fauzi will follow later in the year. Fans only got tiny glimpses of him in Kannappa and in the Baahubali: The Epic segment. Nice moments, sure, but not the full Prabhas punch.

So yeah, 2025 turned into this weird, empty hallway where you keep expecting someone to walk in, but all you hear is the echo of earlier hits. But the lineup waiting in the next room? Way too crowded. Almost like all these heroes were pulling back for one huge swing.