'Dragon': First Glimpse Of The NTR-Prashanth Neel Film Delves Into An Intense Opium War

NTR and Neel's anticipated upcoming Telugu film now officially gets a title: Dragon. Marking the Telugu star's birthday on May 20, makers of the film dropped a first glimpse of Dragon, introducing us to its characters.

Set in 1967, the film explores the opium wars that are fought between two regions and trading companies where the plant is cultivated the most: Afghanistan and the Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia. "In 1947, when the British left India, they also left behind the most profitable business in the world," the voiceover tells us, going into the history of heroin production and its ramifications in the world of Dragon.

The video then goes on to introduce us to the villains of the Afghan Trading Company, as Rukmini Vasanth's character reads verses from Genesis, the Biblical religious text, to a baby cooing off camera. The assembly line of characters ends with NTR's ferocious Luger, aka Dragon, who is introduced as the Assassin in Chief of the Afghan Trading Company. And true to his designation, the actor is seen atop a pile of bloodied corpses.

"I don't see the faces of people I have killed in my dreams. Only faces of the enemies who remain," he says. "I advise you not to stumble into my dreams."

The teaser ends with a surprise appearance. Anil Kapoor is introduced as the Chief of Narcotics Bureau, Raghuveer Rathod, who is urged to take on the role of a hero and put an end to the drug trade.

The film, written and directed by Prashanth Neel, will be released on June 11, 2027. The film co-stars NTR, Anil Kapoor, Biju Menon, Rukmini Vasanth, Khushbu Sundar, Guru Somasundaram, Rajeev Kanakala, and Ashutosh Rana, among others. It is produced by Nandamuri Kalyan Ram - Naveen Yerneni and Y. Ravi Shankar - Kosaraju Harikrishna under the banners of Mythri Movie Makers & NTR Arts. The film has music by Ravi Basrur, a frequent collaborator of Neel who previously worked on Salaar and the KGF films.