New Delhi: The icchadhari naagin or shape-shifting snake is back on the big screen. Dharma productions today announced its next venture titled Naagzilla, starring Kartik Aaryan. The twist in this tale is that the shape shifting snake is a man this time. Aryan plays a 631-year-old Preyamvadeshwar Pyare Chand in the fantasy comedy directed by Mrighdeep Singh Lamba and written by Gautam Mehra.
The film was announced with a motion poster featuring Aaryan’s bare back. Dressed in a pair of blue jeans, his back slowly gets covered in golden snake scales as he talks about his role.
“Innsanon wali picharein toh bahut dekh leen, ab dekho naagon wali pichchar! #Naagzilla – Naag lok ka pehla kaand…Funnn phailaane aa raha hai Preyamvadeshwar Pyare Chand Naag Panchami par” (You have seen a lot of movies about humans, now watch a movie about snakes. Preyamvadeshwar Pyare Chand Naag is coming to spread his hood on Nag Panchami), he wrote in his Instagram post.
This is Kartik’s second collaboration with Dharma Productions, following their upcoming 2026 Valentine’s Day release titled Tu Meri Main Tera, Main Tera Tu Meri. This also marks the first collaboration between Dharma Productions and Mahaveer Jain Films.
The film releases on 14 August 2026.
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Clash of the horror films
As of now, Naagzilla will clash with Varun Dhawan’s Bhediya 2, the sequel to Maddock Supernatural Universe’s Bhediya (2022). Maddock Films had announced its slate of eight new films expanding its successful horror-comedy universe in January this year. The list included the release dates for the highly anticipated Stree 3 and Bhediya 2.
Stree 2 had made a worldwide collection of Rs 857.15 crore, while the low budget Munjya raked in Rs 125 crore, establishing it as a successful universe.
Naagzilla is bringing back to Hindi films a trope made popular by blockbusters like Nagin (1976) starring Reena Roy and Nagina (1986) starring Sridevi. But the 2002 film Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani, using the same trope with a multi-starrer cast featuring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Sunny Deol, Manisha Koirala and Sonu Nigam, was a massive failure.
In television, the concept of shapeshifting snakes has been made popular by Ekta Kapoor with her franchise titled Naagin, which has had six seasons so far. Each season has featured a prominent female TV actor—Mouni Roy, Surbhi Jyoti, Nia Sharma and Tejasswi Prakash.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)