Last evening, SS Rajamouli announced the release date of his directorial and highly-anticipated film RRR. However, the period drama which was supposed to release on January 7 and was postponed due to the recent spike in Covid-19 cases has left everyone shocked and surprised with their strategy by announcing two release dates. The announcement has not exactly been well received by the industry as it has put the marketing plans and release of as many as 3 highly-awaited films in jeopardy – Akshay Kumar’s Bachchan Pandey, Tiger Shroff’s Heropanti 2 and Ajay Devgn’s Runway 34.
RRR announced that the film will release on Holi, March 18 if the Covid-19 cases abate and if the pandemic situation persists it will opt for April 28 release, that is Eid; which effectively clash with Akshay’s Bachchan Pandey if the period drama releases in March and with Tiger’s Heropanti 2 and Ajay’s Runway 34 if it releases in April. Sources inform that Akshay and his producer Sajid Nadiadwala will be sticking to their Holi release date and insiders who have seen the trailer of the film are excited for it as they feel it has potential to be a blockbuster hit. The music album too is said to be comprising of multiple potential hit songs.
#RRRMovie on March 18th 2022 or April 28th 2022. pic.twitter.com/Vbydxi6yqo
— RRR Movie (@RRRMovie) January 21, 2022
An industry insider said, “As things stand today, Bachchan Pandey is on it’s course for a March 18 release. However, it’s a little surprising for the RRR team to keep an element of uncertainty in their release plans without thinking of the other films. Yes, theirs is the costliest Indian film till date, but every producer feels that theirs is an important film. There is no harm in clashes, but to keep things undecided till the end is slightly unprofessional. While a delay is unlikely, but what if Bachchan Pandey team decides to push the film and then, RRR team too decide on choose the option of bringing their film on Eid? They have kept all their options open, but what about others?”
The insider further spoke about RRR impacting Heropanti 2 and Runway 34 if it release on Eid and said, “Now this puts even the teams of the two Eid releases in limbo. While there is enough to accommodate a two-way clash, we don’t have the infrastructure to have 3 big releases on the same day. So well, the announcement despite knowing that two films are slated to arrive on April 28 is again a shocker from the team of RRR. If it eventually releases on Eid or not, is something that everyone would discover with time.”
Interestingly, RRR also has a cameo by Ajay. Earlier in October, RRR’s release date was clashing with his Maidaan. Apparently, this isn’t the first time that RRR has ridden roughshod over other filmmakers’ films. As many as 7 films from multiple industries have had to resort to different dates to avoid a clash with Ram Charan’s and Jr.NTR’s period drama. Radhe Shyam, Acharya, Maidaan, Gangubai Kathiawadi, Bheemla Nayak, Sarkaru Vaari Paata, F3 all had to shift their release dates to avoid a clash at the box office with RRR
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