Dada first song due by mid-November, says Gopichand Malineni; Balakrishna film holds its 24 December date

Director Gopichand Malineni said on Friday, 6 November that the Sekhar Master song from Nandamuri Balakrishna's Dada will be out by the weekend of 14-15 November. The film stays on 24 December.

By Telugu Scope Cinema Desk

Published November 7, 2026 · 2 min read

Dada film poster: Nandamuri Balakrishna in dark glasses, leather jacket and gold chain, pointing forward with a hammer in his other hand, under the title Dada and the words Dec 24 in theatres.

The Dada first song is about a week away. Director Gopichand Malineni said so on X on Friday, 6 November, in a birthday message to choreographer Sekhar Master, writing that the number would be out by the weekend after his post, which falls on 14 and 15 November. He gave no exact date and did not name the song.

Malineni told Sekhar Master he was eager for people to see his work on it, and called the song “a visual treat for NBK fans and audiences alike”. NBK is the shorthand fans use for Nandamuri Balakrishna, who leads the film. S Thaman has composed the music.

24 December date restated

The post came two days after the makers answered social media talk of a possible postponement. On Wednesday, 4 November, they put out a short video of Balakrishna delivering an action dialogue and restated the date in their caption: “December 24th. First Single Dropping very very soon. As Promised, This time it’s CHRIST-MASS.”

Dada, a gangster action drama first known by the working title NBK111, is the second film from Balakrishna and Malineni after Veera Simha Reddy. Its title glimpse, released in September, showed the actor in a retro look as “The King of Chaos”, opening on a coastal shot that appears to place the story in Mumbai. Kajal Aggarwal is the female lead, with Samuthirakani, Manchu Manoj, Sarath Kumar, Abhimanyu Singh, Upendra Limaye, Manish Wadhwa and Swasika in the cast. The dialogues are by Sai Madhav Burra, with Arvind S Kashyap on camera and Navin Nooli on the edit. Venkata Satish Kilaru produces under the Vriddhi Cinemas banner.

A crowded Christmas slot

The date puts Dada up against Nagarjuna’s 100th film, King100, also due on 24 December. Annapurna Studios is backing that film, with Ra Karthik as writer and director and Devi Sri Prasad on music. Its first glimpse of Tabu, as the political leader Mahanthi Jhansi Rani, came out on 4 November.

Shah Rukh Khan’s King is set for the same day. Standees for it carrying Telugu text have appeared online, though no official announcement has been made on a Telugu version. Avengers: Doomsday is slated for 18 December, six days ahead of all three.

The song’s title and exact release date are the next announcements due from the Dada team. The film opens on Thursday, 24 December.

Image: TMDB / Vriddhi Cinemas