Kanappa: Vishnu Manchu reportedly implicates his brother Manoj in hard disk theft

The controversy surrounding the recent theft of a hard drive containing important footage from the upcoming Telugu film Kannappa has a new twist. According to a new report, Vishnu Manchu, the star of the film, has implied that his brother Manchu Manoj may be involved in the incident.

Crucial footage stolen

Recently, a hard disk containing a fight sequence between two characters of the film and crucial VFX files was stolen by two individuals. Reddy Vijay Kumar, the executive producer at TwentyFour Frames Factory Private Limited, had filed a police complaint.

According to the police report, the hard drive was delivered to TwentyFour Frames Factory, Hyderabad, on March 25, which was received by an office boy, Raghu, who then handed over the package to a woman named Charitha. Since then, both individuals have been missing. A police investigation is currently underway.

Vishnu Manchu breaks silence

According to a report by 123 Telugu, while speaking at a promotional event for Kannappa, Vishnu said the two culprits are employed by his brother Manoj, but added that he had no clue if this was done under someone's orders.

"In case the culprits manage to leak the footage, I urge everyone to not watch the leaked content. About 70 minutes of colour-graded footage that was sent from a Mumbai facility to our father’s Film Nagar residence was stolen by Raghu more than a month ago. I suspect Raghu is employed by my brother, Manchu Manoj. But I’m not sure if Raghu stole the hard disk at the behest of my brother’s command.”

A mythical saga with a star-studded cast

Kannappa is directed by Mukesh Kumar Singh and is a fantasy movie that follows Kannappa, played by Vishnu Manchu, who also wrote the screenplay. Kannappa is a devotee of the Hindu god Shiva. The film boasts a star-studded cast and features cameos from some of the biggest stars in the country.

Prabhas will be playing the role of Rudra and is said to have a 30-minute extended cameo in the film. Along with Prabhas, the film will feature a cameo from Akshay Kumar as Lord Shiva, Kajal Aggarwal as Goddess Parvati, and Mohanlal as Kirāta.

Kannappa will be released in all major Indian languages and will hit the big screen worldwide on June 27, 2025.