Akshay Kumar is probably the busiest actor in the bollywood industry right now as he is gearing up for back to back releases this year too. And for that he can be seen shooting for movies around the clock. Because Akshay is a committed actor, he resumed the shooting of his spy thriller ‘Bell Bottom’ amid the pandemic while maintaining full precautions. He wrapped up his shoot and the movie is now awaiting release.
Few months back, the makers of Bell Bottom, released an official teaser to garner eyeballs and promised that the movie would be arriving “only in cinemas”. But now in a recent development, it seems that the makers are unsure about a theatrical release and are looking for another option – OTT release. While Akshay Kumar is familiar with the OTT space as his horror comedy – Laxmii arrived on Disney+ Hotstar last year.
Bollywood Hungama reported that producers Jackky Bhagnani and Vashu Bhagnani aren’t keen on ahead with the theatrical release as the movie was supposed to arrive in the month of April, which is now blocked by another of Akshay’s film ‘Sooryavanshi’. And hence, the Bhagnani’s have approached Amazon Prime Video for Bell Bottom’s direct to OTT release.
Seeing the budget and cost of production of the movie, according to the makers it would be unnecessary to delay the movie and hence they are in talks with the streaming giant (Amazon Prime Video). While the talks are in the initials stages, a clearer picture about the future of the movie will arrive in a month or so.
The decision of makers are sure to attract eyeballs mainly of two reasons –
1. Akshay Kumar’s last release ‘Laxmii’ was released on OTT platform and was met with negative reviews. Plus the movie was part of several controversies which might have hampered Akshay’s image as an actor. And since Laxmii was meant to be a mass movie, it didn’t worked in the OTT medium. Would it be a good idea to release another movie into the same platform seeing how his last one performed?
2. Without a doubt Akshay Kumar enjoys a huge fan following which has only increased in past few years. This makes him a sure shot bankable star and his movies are bound to earn fortune for the makers. So then why are the makers so keen for an OTT release?
It would be interesting to see how Bollywood decides to come back into the theatres despite the uneven bumps in their road to silver screens. Bell Bottom is gearing up for opening in June reported Bollywood Hungama.