Srimanthudu and Baahubali
Srimanthudu and BaahubaliFacebook

"Mirchi" fame Koratala Siva has slammed rumours that he has postponed the release of Superstar Mahesh Babu's "Srimanthudu" to avoid its clash with SS Rajamouli's "Baahubali".

"Srimanthudu" is one of the most talked about and highly-awaited Tollywood movies of 2015. The makers recently announced that the film will release in theatres across the globe on 17 July.

Meanwhile, during an audio launch on Saturday evening, the "Baabubali" team revealed that the epic period drama will hit the screens on 10 July, a week before the release of the Mahesh Babu starrer film.

Following this, rumours were rife on social media that the makers had decided to delay the release of "Srimanthudu" by a couple of weeks as they did not want their film to lock horns with big-budget movie like "Baahubali" and suffer severe setback at the worldwide box office.

However, director Koratala Siva, upset over these false rumours, spoke to the media and cleared the air surrounding the release of "Srimanthudu". He said that his team has completed the shooting and he has planned to complete its patch work in the third week of June. The audio will be released in the last week of this month.

"We have finalized the release date long back and decided to stick to July 17th. Except for one week of patchwork, Entire shoot has been completed. We are releasing the audio by the end of June," Koratala Siva told a movie portal.

"Srimanthudu" has been made on budget of around ₹50 crore, while the budget of "Baahubali" is ₹200 crore. Both the films are much-hyped and highly anticipated. Considering they are releasing within a gap of just a week, they are sure to eat into each other's business, say trade analysts in film nagar.