F3 (film)

Following the success of F2: Fun and Frustration (2019), studio owner Dil Raju announced its sequel in February 2019. He added that a third lead actor will be cast for the sequel.[3][4] However, in April 2020, director Ravipudi clarified that there was little space for a third protagonist.[5] In an interview in March 2021, Ravipudi said: "F3 is not a sequel to F2. It is completely a new story where the leads are seen getting frustrated caused by money."[6]

Venkatesh, Tej, Prasad, Tamannaah and Pirzada are reprising their roles in the sequel. Devi Sri Prasad, who scored the music for F2, is retained as the music composer.[7] Sunil and Murali Sharma signed to play a key roles in the film.[8][9] In April 2021, it was reported that Anjali was cast in the film, though there is no official communication yet.[10] Rajendra Prasad is also set to reprise his role from F2 whose character is reportedly modelled after Kota Srinivasa Rao's role in Aha Naa-Pellanta! (1987).[11] Sakshi reported that Venkatesh would be a playing a night blind while Tej's character would be suffering from stuttering.[9] Sonal Chauhan confirmed that her appearance in the film in October 2021, describing her role as a "surprise".[12] In April 2022, Pooja Hegde was signed on for a special song.[13][14]

F3 was formally launched in 6 December 2020.[15] Principal photography of the film began on 26 December 2020 in Hyderabad.[16][17] Varun Tej has joined the production in January 2021.[18][19] Due to COVID-19 pandemic in India, filming was paused from April to June. Filming was planned to be resumed in July 2021 with 10-day long schedule.[20] However, the filming resumed in September 2021.[21] In December 2021, filming took place at Charminar and nearly 85% of the shoot is completed.[22] The talkie portions were wrapped in January 2022 with only a song left to shoot.[23] A special song featuring Hegde was filmed in April 2022 at a specially constructed set at the Annapurna Studios.[24]

F3 is now scheduled to be released on 27 May 2022.[26] Earlier, it was scheduled to be released on 27 August 2021,[27] but was deferred due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[28] It was later scheduled to release theatrically on 25 February 2022, but was postponed to avoid clash with Bheemla Nayak which released on that date.[29] Its release date was scheduled as 28 April 2022 but it was again delayed and moved to the current date to avoid clash with Acharya.[30]

The satellite rights of the film were sold to Zee Telugu while the digital distribution rights were acquired by Amazon Prime Video.[31]