Sai Dharam Tej Blames OTT Savvy Audiences For Sambarala Yeti Gattu Delay

Telugu actor Sai Dharam Tej , who now goes by Sai Durgha Tej, has attributed the prolonged delay of his big budget action drama Sambarala Yeti Gattu to rising audience sophistication, saying streaming consumption has left him needing to be extra careful while choosing and designing his films. The remark comes as the project, once slated for a September 25, 2025 release, missed yet another planned date in May 2026.

The film, internally titled SDT18, has been pushed back repeatedly, first due to a clash with Pawan Kalyan's OG and an industry wide strike, then over pending visual effects, with the makers citing an unwillingness to release an underwhelming product. Set against a 1980s rural Rayalaseema backdrop, the period drama sees Tej speaking in regional dialect as Bali, a tribal leader confronting oppressive forces, with reports suggesting nearly Rs 20 crore has been spent on the climax sequence.

Directed by debutant Rohith KP and bankrolled by K Niranjan Reddy and Chaitanya Reddy under Primeshow Entertainment , the film carries a budget of around Rs 120 crore, the highest of Tej's career, with music by B Ajaneesh Loknath and cinematography by Vetri Palanisamy. Aishwarya Lekshmi leads opposite Tej, supported by Jagapathi Babu, Srikanth, Sai Kumar and Ananya Nagalla, while a high octane sequence choreographed by Peter Hein features a Bollywood actor as antagonist. The film will be released across Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam.

This marks Tej's first lead role since Virupaksha, following the shelving of Ganja Shankar and the box office failure of Bro. He has meanwhile signed Paruveta, his next project, even as fans await Sambarala Yeti Gattu's new date.