Akshay Kumar to start theatrical run in 2022 with Bachchan Pandey; movie releases in Holi
Akshay Kumar is returning to the big screen this year with Bachchan Pandey. The actor has announced that the movie comes to theaters on March 18. He also shared new posters for the movie. This will be Akshay’s third theatrical release post the pandemic. It started with Bell Bottoms in 2020, then Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi is 20211 that revived box office to certain extent and this year with Farhad Samji directorial. The actor checked all the boxes, ‘Action, Comedy, Drama, Romance’ for the movie making it a mass-entertainer.
Bachchan Pandey announced back in 2019 also stars Kriti Sanon, Jacqueline Fernandez, Pankaj Tripathi, Arshad Warsi, Prateik Babbar. The Sajid Nadiadwala production is eying the Holi window. The movie was earlier scheduled for release in December 2020 but got delayed due to Covid-19 and clashing with Aamir Khan’s upcoming Laal Singh Chaddha. According to IMdb, Bachchan Pandey is about a kind-hearted villager who takes down enemies to safeguard his family.
Meanwhile, many production houses are skeptical about releasing their films at theaters due to Covid-19 restrictions and uncertainty in pandemic times. Bid budget films like RRR, Jersey postponed their release. Others like Gehraiyaan moved to OTT release. Even Akshay Kumar’s Prithviraj deferred its release. The Multiplex Association of India has urged state governments to avoid shutting down theaters. Meanwhile, Allu Arjuns Pusha: The Rising did decent business at box office both in south and in the Hindi belt. So far it has done business of Rs 247 crore worldwide.
In 2022, Akshay has a long list of releases starting with Bachchan Pandey then Prithviraj, Ram Setu, Raksha Bandhan, OMG 2 and Gorkha. His last release Sooryavanshi grossed Rs 196 crore at the domestic box office, according to Bollywood Hungama. The movie is credited for bringing back audiences to theaters after a slump of two years. He also had a few OTT releases like Laxmii, Atrangi Re.