Mohan Babu unveiled as ‘Shikanja Maalik’ in Nani’s The Paradise

The makers of The Paradise unveiled Mohan Babu’s character ‘Shikanja Maalik’ on his birthday, releasing a BTS video. The Nani-starrer, directed by Srikanth Odela, is now set for a worldwide release on August 21, 2026.

Hyderabad: The makers of director Srikanth Odela’s eagerly awaited action entertainer ‘The Paradise’, featuring Telugu star Nani in the lead, on the occasion of actor Mohan Babu’s birthday on Thursday revealed the name and the look of the character he plays in the film.

Using the film’s official social media handle, the makers released a BTS video of the actor while shooting for ‘The Paradise’ and wrote, “Wishing the legendary @themohanbabu Garu a very Happy Birthday. Once again, Cinema will witness his supreme villainism as ‘SHIKANJA MAALIK’ in #TheParadise. #LiveLikeMohanBabu Happy Ugadi. GRAND RELEASE WORLDWIDE ON AUGUST 21st, 2026. #JadalZamanaFromAug21 Natural Star @NameisNani in an @odela_srikanth cinema. An @anirudhofficia musical.”

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The much-awaited film is slated to hit screens worldwide on August 21 this year.

‘The Paradise’, which is backed by SLV Cinemas, was originally set for a grand release on March 26, 2026. However, its makers chose to postpone the film’s release to August 21. The new date picked by the unit for the release thrusts The Paradise straight into a rare three-week festival wave. The first week gets a strong mid-week boost with Onam and Milad-un-Nabi, followed by Raksha Bandhan in the second weekend, and Janmashtami in the third.

For a high-budget spectacle of this scale, this extended holiday stretch offers an exceptional runway at the box office.

Only recently, the makers of the film had disclosed that actor Sampoornesh Babu plays a character called ‘Biryani’ in the film.

The film has triggered huge expectations among fans and film buffs for a number of reasons.

For the unaware, Srikanth Odela previously served as an assistant director to ace director Sukumar in ‘Nannaku Prematho’ and ‘Rangasthalam’. He made his directorial debut with ‘Dasara’, which featured Nani in the lead. The film garnered critical acclaim and became a box office success, crossing the ₹100 crore mark. Now, Odela and Nani have teamed up again for ‘The Paradise’.

Well known Bollywood actor Raghav Juyal too is a part of ‘The Paradise’. It may be recalled that the makers of the film had welcomed actor Raghav Juyal on board the film’s unit last year. Also, actor Raghav Juyal, who is basking in the success of of ‘Bads of Bollywood’, has already announced that he will be changing his look for the film.

It is to release in eight languages namely Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, English, Spanish, Bengali, Kannada, and Malayalam.