By Ayesha Khan 
Hyderabad, October 12: There’s a quiet excitement running through Telugu film circles this week. After months of teasers, music drops, and social media whispers, “Mithra Mandali” has finally got its U/A certificate from the censor board. The timing couldn’t be better; the team has circled October 16 for the grand release, with paid premieres set for a day earlier.
A Story That Feels Like It Was Lived, Not Written
If the title gives anything away, this film is about friendship, the kind that grows awkwardly, loudly, and without filters. It’s being presented by Bunny Vas, a name familiar to anyone who’s tracked Telugu cinema’s easy-going entertainers. The people behind Mithra Mandali keep saying it’s “made by friends about friendship,” and you can sense they mean it.
The trailer full of jokes, half-serious confessions, and inside-circle humour, has caught on fast online. Gulte called it “fun, relatable, and heartfelt.” Nothing fancy, just real faces in familiar spaces. You can almost smell the college corridors and tea-stall banter in those frames.
Niharika NM Steps Away from the Spotlight She Built Herself
For Niharika NM, this one feels personal too. Most people know her from her sharp, quick-cut sketches on Instagram and YouTube. Here, she’s quieter. “This character is softer,” she told The Hans India, admitting she had to dial down the energy she’s known for. “People have seen me cracking jokes; this time I wanted them to see something else.”
Her online following is huge, but the real test begins now can she hold a big screen without the jump-cuts and filters that built her career? That question alone has made Mithra Mandali one of the more talked-about October releases.
The Censor Nod and a Calculated Roll-Out
According to CineJosh, the censor board’s green signal came earlier this week. That’s cleared the path for what the team calls a “full-scale, feel-good release.” They’re betting on paid premieres confirmed by 123telugu to generate early chatter. It’s become a small-film survival trick in Tollywood: get a few hundred real reactions before Friday, let social media carry the noise.
A few recent successes prove the idea works. Baby did it. Ambajipeta Marriage Band did it. Both went from cautious openings to runaway hits because audiences talked. The Mithra Mandali team is clearly hoping for the same domino effect.
Behind the Scenes, a Familiar Crew
The makers speak with the casual confidence of people who’ve done this before. Their long association with Bunny Vas seems to have given them breathing room to make something unhurried. One of the producers told The Hans India that the shoot “felt more like a reunion than a schedule.”
Insiders say music plays a big role, catchy college-day beats balanced with one or two emotional tracks that sneak up on you. The colour palette, too, from what’s been teased, leans sunny and grounded instead of glossy.
A Small Film in a Big Industry Moment
Tollywood’s been changing quietly. Between the huge spectacles, small stories like Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi and Middle Class Melodies have shown that audiences don’t mind simplicity when it feels genuine. Mithra Mandali seems to walk the same path, no superstars, just characters that remind you of people you actually know.
If it lands, it adds one more brick to the slow-growing wall of new-age Telugu cinema: honest emotions, local humour, and friendships that look like ours, not the perfect ones we’re sold.
Counting Down the Days
Promotions are now in full swing press meets, campus visits, endless reels. There’s that nervous laughter you always sense around a film that’s nearly ready to meet the world. The cast keeps repeating one line: “It’s a story about us.” And maybe that’s enough.
The real verdict begins with those October 15 premieres. If the first audiences walk out smiling, Mithra Mandali could turn into the month’s sleeper hit. If not, it will still stand as a heartfelt attempt to capture the messy sweetness of growing up together.
Either way, the film seems to carry something many commercial outings forget a bit of sincerity. And that, more often than not, finds its way to people.
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- Ayesha Khanhttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ayesha/
- Ayesha Khanhttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ayesha/
- Ayesha Khanhttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ayesha/
- Ayesha Khanhttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ayesha/
Ananya Sharma and Ayesha Khan