The sequel to this year's biggest hit "Baahubali," which was expected to be released in 2016, has been delayed again, media reports said Tuesday. Reports suggest that "Baahubai 2" will now hit the theaters in January 2017 instead of December 2016, according to India Today.

"The film will now not release in December as planned. It will release in January 2017 instead," another source told DNA India.

Director SS Rajamouli has been working on the project for five years and has reportedly shot more than 40 percent of the movie simultaneously with the prequel. He will start shooting for the remaining portion on Dec. 16 at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad.

"Even though a few war scenes and some other key sequences have been filmed, 70 percent of the movie is yet to be shot. The shooting will go on till July 2016, post which the VFX work will start," a source told the Hindustan Times.

"Baahubali 2," or "Baahubali: The Conclusion," is the second and final instalment of the "Baahubali" series. It stars Rana Daggubati, Prabhas, Tamannaah Bhatia, Anushka Shetty, Ramya Krishnan and Sathyaraj in lead roles.

"Baahubali: The Beginning" - released in July - became the first Indian film to gross more than Rs 500 crores. The epic fantasy war drama was recently featured in Facebook 2015 World Review, as HNGN reportedly previously. It was fourth place in Facebook's most-searched keywords for the year 2015. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, late President APJ Abdul Kalam and E-commerce snagged the first three positions in the top 10.