There’s a lot of excitement in the trade, industry, and fans after the government of Maharashtra allowed the cinemas to reopen from October 22. What added to the joy was Rohit Shetty announcing that his action entertainer Sooryavanshi would be the first major film to release on Diwali. It seemed like an apt film to bring back audiences and also, this Akshay Kumar starrer has been waiting for a theatrical release for a long time. It was initially scheduled to release on March 24, 2020. But due to the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdown, it was pushed to Diwali 2020. Later, the makers toyed with the idea of releasing it on April 2. Then they settled for April 30, 2021, as the new release date and it was announced on Rohit Shetty’s birthday, on March 14. Unfortunately, the second wave of Covid-19 exploded and Sooryavanshi was yet again pushed.
With Sooryavanshi scheduled to release on Diwali, a question going around is whether it’ll release on the day of the Festival of Lights, or a day later, as has been the norm of late.
A trade expert said, “Earlier, the norm was that a Diwali release would release on the day of Diwali. But the collections get affected that day as people are busy with puja and other activities. The post-Diwali day is a holiday and it can lead to record collections. In recent times, Happy New Year (2014), Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (2015), Golmaal Again (2017), directed by Rohit Shetty, Thugs Of Hindostan (2018), etc released on the post-Diwali day. And all these films had earth-shattering opening day collections.”
The expert continued, “The decision by the Sooryavanshi makers is correct. The film has maintained the hype despite the numerous delays. It is sure to open in a huge way, despite the pandemic restrictions. A huge opening day would make waves and would give a strong message that Bollywood is back with a bang. That’ll be possible only if Sooryavanshi comes out on November 5. Releasing on Diwali day would not help achieve that since the earnings would be limited.”
Sooryavanshi would also clash with Marvel’s much-talked-about film, Eternals. However, the trade is confident that it’ll not affect Sooryavanshi. “Remember how the Hollywood movie Joker (2019) and the Hrithik Roshan-Tiger Shroff starrer War (2019) clashed and yet both films did outstanding business? Something similar can happen in the case of these two films,” said the trade expert and signed off.
Sooryavanshi belongs to the cop universe of Rohit Shetty which also comprises the characters of Singham (played by Ajay Devgn) and Simmba (played by Ranveer Singh). Interestingly, both also feature in the film in special appearances and this factor has added to the buzz around the film.