Akshay Kumar’s Bell Bottom to be postponed, makers may schedule an August release now
Akshay Kumar surprised his fans when he announced the release date of his much-awaited film Bellbottom. The film was scheduled to release on July 27. Now it seems the plan is again ruined by the pandemic.
The announcement was made looking at the decrease in the Covid-19 cases at that time. Even the Maharashtra government had announced the unlocking process. Eventually, it was expected that the film will have a theatrical release especially in major cities like Mumbai, Maharashtra, and Delhi.
However, the world then introduced to the fatal Delta Plus variety causing havoc a few days later. It is said that this variation is more transmissible and might trigger the third wave at any time. As a result of the Maharastra government lifted up some freedom and dropped Levels 1 and 2 from its unlocking scheme.
A source informs Bollywood Hungama, “Uddhav Thackeray will sit with his task force and other officials to decide the next course of action. The positivity rate is below 2% in Mumbai for most days in the last 2 weeks. Hence, some relaxation is expected from July 15. But whether he will allow cinemas to open remains to be seen. A city like Delhi is having less than 100 cases a day for more than 10 days and there, the government might allow theatres to open. But no one knows exactly what the state government in Maharashtra would finalize with regards to cinema halls.”
“Maharashtra, especially its centres like Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Pune are crucial as it contributes a chunk of revenue. Releasing Bellbottom without Maharashtra is out of the question. Even if theatres are given the permission to restart on July 15 in Maharashtra, it’ll be difficult for the team of the movie to have just a 12-day promotion window. It’s too short for a big film like Bellbottom. Hence it makes sense to push the film by a few weeks,” the source added.
“The makers are probably looking at releasing the film on August 13, in the Independence Day weekend. It’ll also benefit the makers as there are minor holidays on the weekdays (Parsi New Year on Monday, August 16 and Muharram on Thursday, August 19). There have also been talks that it’ll release a week later, on August 20, 2 days before the festival of Raksha Bandhan. A clearer picture should emerge in a few days from now,” a trade expert said.
Apart from Akshay Kumar Bellbottom also stars Vaani Kapoor, Huma Qureshi, Lara Dutta, and Adil Hussain. The film is directed by Ranjit M Tewari.
