Akshay Kumar’s fans have a bigaa reason to rejoice. Yesterday there was a buzz in Bollywood that the actor’s espionage drama Bell Bottom was going to release on Amazon Prime Video this Independence Day. Filmmakers have started taking the OTT route to release their ready projects rather than wait for the pandemic to ease and for there to be certainty in the country.
Bell Bottom has reportedly been sold to Amazon Prime Video for a direct digital premiere. Akshay and the producers Jackky Bhagnani (Pooja Entertainment) and Nikkhil Advani (Emmay Entertainment) are believed to have got a lucrative deal from the streaming giant making the film a profitable venture for them. They are said to be eyeing Independence Day for Bell Bottom’s release.
However, the other and bigger bit of news is that Akshay and the co-producers of his cop drama Sooryavanshi (Karan Johar and Rohit Shetty) have now decided to release the film on Independence Day if theatres open in the country. The film is pending release since March 2020 and its fate has remained uncertain all during the lockdown. The film, co-starring Katrina Kaif, Ajay Devgn and Ranveer Singh, is meant for a theatrical release and that’s why Sooryavanshi’s makers have resisted an OTT launch all this while.
Meanwhile, what happens if theatres do not open to facilitate Sooryavanshi’s release? Will Akshay’s Bell Bottom premiere on Independence Day through Amazon Prime Video? Talks are on, nothing is on paper yet, and an official announcement is awaited. Bell Bottom, which also stars Huma Qureshi, Vaani Kapoor and Lara Dutta, was the first major Bollywood production to be made during the lockdown last year. Farhan Akhtar’s Toofaan, Vidya Balan’s Sherni, and Saif Ali Khan’s and Arjun Kapoor’s Bhoot Police are some of the other films headed for direct digital premiere skipping theatres.
