Ranabaali hits screens on October 16, and the noise around it isn’t just about the film — it’s about who’s shouting loudest. Vijay Deverakonda, fresh from his wedding to Rashmika Mandanna, is bracing for a storm. Not of box office competition, but of online vitriol. Producer Ravi Shankar, speaking at the Hyderabad trailer launch, didn’t mince words: ‘Some people are deliberately spreading negativity about him.’ The target? Deverakonda himself. The trigger? A film that’s already being billed as a grand historical epic, set during a famine, rooted in folk traditions, and built around a character named Ranabaali, a name whispered through Burrakathas, oral tales passed down through generations. It’s not just a movie. It’s a reckoning with history, and some fans aren’t ready for it. They’re questioning the premise before they’ve even seen it. ‘British-period story’? ‘Will this work?’ The backlash, according to Shankar, started before the trailer dropped. That’s when the real fight begins. Deverakonda, who calls the film a ‘celebration of forgotten heroes,’ says he’s not backing down. He’s not apologising for his confidence, nor will he shrink his dreams to fit someone else’s comfort zone. ‘If my honesty looks like arrogance… should I make myself smaller?’ He doesn’t answer. He just walks. The film, co-produced by Mythri Movie Makers with Naveen Yerneni, is described as ‘super-duper hit’ material, grand, high-quality, and deeply personal. For Deverakonda, it’s more than a role. It’s a legacy. He speaks of Rahul Sankrityan’s script like a sacred text, of Shinganamala. The village of his mother’s roots, as a living world. And yet, the moment the camera cuts to the audience, the focus shifts. Not to the story. To the man behind it. The same man who once said the school syllabus was shaped by colonialism. Now, that line is back in circulation, weaponised. But Deverakonda’s response is clear: stay focused on the film. Watch it. Take your family. Understand the DNA we carry. The release date is set. The trailer’s out. The hate’s loud. But the screen waits. October 16. The real test begins when the lights go down.