Shraddha’s Eetha trailer honours Maharashtra’s Tamasha queen

Shraddha steps into a folk legend’s ghunghroos

The first full trailer for Eetha arrived on October 30, and it places Shraddha Kapoor where Hindi cinema rarely goes: the folk performance stages of Maharashtra. Directed by Laxman Utekar, the biographical drama casts her as Vithabai Bhau Mang Narayangaonkar, the Lavani and Tamasha performer who became one of the state’s most celebrated stage artists.

This is Shraddha’s first big-screen appearance since Stree 2, and the timing adds weight. The trailer plays less like a star vehicle and more like a homecoming—elaborate stage performances, music, dance and expressive movement that cannot be faked in a quick montage. The film is now set for a December 4, 2026 theatrical release, after an earlier August date was moved.

Why this one matters for Hindi film fans

Bollywood has borrowed from Marathi folk performance for decades without always naming its sources. Eetha is different because it puts the artist at the centre and treats the song-and-dance form as the story, not an interval break. That matters for an industry that often uses lavani-style numbers as item tracks while the real history stays in regional theatre.

The trailer does not smooth over the rough edges. It moves from Vithabai’s humble beginnings to the personal battles that shaped her, suggesting Utekar is aiming for a portrait rather than a polished tribute card.

Who was Vithabai?

Vithabai Bhau Mang Narayangaonkar lived from 1935 to 2002. Born in Pandharpur, she began performing young and eventually earned the title “Tamasha Samradni”—the Empress of Tamasha. For Hindi film fans meeting her for the first time, Eetha is a crash course in an artist who helped keep Maharashtra’s folk performance traditions alive through sheer stage presence.

Lavani brings the energetic, expressive movement; Tamasha brings the music, dance, storytelling and performance together. The film’s team is betting that recreating both forms requires more than visuals, which is why the music is in Ajay-Atul’s hands and the cinematography sits with Akash Agrawal.

• Cast: Shraddha Kapoor, Randeep Hooda as Vithabai’s husband Anna Sawant Merchant, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Anant Joshi, Siddharth Jadhav, Akshara Singh and Ulka Gupta.
• Behind the camera: Laxman Utekar directs, Kshitij Patwardhan writes, and Dinesh Vijan, Utekar and Karishma Sharma produce under Maddock Films and Kathputli Creations.
• Release: December 4, 2026, in theatres, roughly five weeks after the trailer launch.

Hooda’s first-look poster introduced him as Anna Sawant Merchant, Vithabai’s husband, so the film is framing her legacy through both the stage and her marriage. It is that personal layer that could separate Eetha from a standard tribute piece.

What to watch for

The real test will be whether Eetha balances biography with performance. The risk is turning a life into a highlight reel; the reward is introducing a younger Hindi audience to an art form they might otherwise never stream. For our readers, the assignment is simple: watch the trailer for the stagecraft, stay for the Ajay-Atul score, and book December 4 if the full film keeps this energy.

Source: India Today