Media365
3 min readHyderabadOct 8, 2026 07:47 PM IST
Mythri Movie Makers has released the trailer of Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna-starrer Ranabaali on Thursday, offering the most comprehensive look yet at director Rahul Sankrityan’s period action drama set during the Madras famine of 1876-78. At 3 minutes and 47 seconds, the trailer covers the full sweep of the film’s narrative, from the birth of its protagonist outside a mystical cave to a full-scale war between a Rayalaseema village and the British Empire.
The trailer opens with the origin of its hero. A child is born outside a mystical cave in the hills of Rayalaseema, where a sage-like figure names him Ranabaali. From there, the trailer builds the world of Singanamala, the fictional Rayalaseema village that serves as the film’s primary setting. We see a community living on its own terms, governed by its own traditions, connected to its land and its animals, particularly horses.
Vijay Deverakonda‘s Ranabaali is introduced as a young man of this village, a horseman and a fighter whose identity is inseparable from the soil he was born on. He is seen fighting off Britishers who try to invade their village. The trailer shows his courtship and marriage to Jayamma, played by Rashmika Mandanna, in sequences that are tender and rooted in rural Rayalaseema tradition.
Watch the trailer of Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna-starrer Ranabaali:
The trailer then shifts to the Madras famine, and the tone changes completely. The warmth of the early portions gives way to images of starvation, death and colonial exploitation that are among the most harrowing visuals. Parallel to these images, the trailer cuts to the British establishment, visibly comfortable, seemingly indifferent, operating from positions of power while the people under their administration die by the thousands. Arnold Vosloo’s Sir Theodore Hector, the British commissioner based on the real Sir Richard Temple, is glimpsed in frames that establish his authority and detachment without revealing the full scope of his villainy.
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Ranabaali takes up arms against the British, not as a freedom fighter with a national cause but as a man protecting his village. Rashmika Mandanna’s Jayamma is not a bystander in the resistance. The trailer shows her, visibly pregnant, standing alongside Ranabaali in scenes that involve both saving villagers from the famine and confronting British forces directly.
About Ranabaali
Ranabaali is directed by Rahul Sankrityan, who previously helmed Taxiwaala and Shyam Singha Roy with Vijay Deverakonda and Nani, respectively. The screenplay, which Sankrityan has said went through 24 drafts over three years of writing, is based on extensive research into the Madras famine, including British gazettes from the Ballari Collectorate archival room, local folklore and the burra katha storytelling tradition of Rayalaseema.
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The film stars Vijay Deverakonda as Singanamala Bobbili Ranabaali, Rashmika Mandanna as Jayamma and Arnold Vosloo as Sir Theodore Hector. It is produced by Naveen Yerneni and Y. Ravi Shankar under Mythri Movie Makers and presented by T-Series.
Ranabaali releases worldwide on October 16, 2026, one day after Rajinikanth’s Jailer 2.
