Now that the theaters are opening in the whole of India, looks like Bollywood is all set to have its releases in place before the year ends.
Shibashish Sarkar, CEO of Reliance Entertainment confirmed that Kapil Dev Biopic, 83 will make its release in early 2021 instead of Christmas this year.
Bollywood Hungama reported that YRF’s Bunty Aur Babli 2 might release during the Christmas weekend. A source says “Bunty Aur Babli 2 is an out and out entertainer and would make for an ideal watch on festive season and YRF is strongly considering a December release for the film featuring Siddhant Chaturvedi, Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukherjee.”
“Aditya Chopra has been closely working in tandem with Reliance to chalk out his release calendar as he understands the efforts taken by Reliance to hold on to 2 big films – Sooryavanshi and 83 for a theatrical release. He is in no mood to clash in the midst of pandemic and has decided to bring a YRF film on Diwali only because 83, Sooryavanshi or any other film is not releasing,” the source adds.
A final call on the release of Bunty Aur Babli 2 will be taken by the end of this month based on how things are on-ground, the ticket sales, the cinema consumption pattern, as also after analyzing the possibility of the second lockdown in some parts of India.
“The film will release only if all the key markets are open for exhibition. With 83 taking a step back, Christmas is on Adi’s mind for this film. He has seen some rushes and is confident that the nostalgia factor backed with freshness in the screenplay of the sequel will draw the audience to the cinema halls. He is ensuring a merry Christmas for exhibitors with Bunty Aur Babli 2,” the source continued.
On the other hand, 83 and Sooryavanshi are looking to release between January and March and a final decision will be taken when the stakeholders analyse the performance of other movies over the next 40 days. The source continued “They are big films and need to record big footfalls to break even. Hence, it would be a properly planned release taking into account all factors including the overseas markets.”
The other YRF films looking for a release in next few months include Jayeshbhai Jordaar, Shamshera and Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar.