Believe it or not, Neeraj Pandey’s untitled film, starring Akshay Kumar which is yet to go on the floors, will be released simultaneously with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gabbar which too stars the actor.
Neither of the two big projects are willing to move out of the coveted January 26, 2015 slot. A source close to Bhansali says, “We decided that Gabbar is perfect as Republic Day release.We took a call on the release three months ago. Its theme is socio-political reform. It’s the story of one man’s crusade against corruption. Akshay, who has been doing a string of action-adventure entertainers, would be doing a film very relevant to the nation’s conscience. And what better slot for this film than Republic Day?”
Livid at Neeraj’s film ‘jumping in’ out of the blue an insider from the Bhansali camp fumes saying, “They have not even shot a single frame and have decided to barge into our release date without any consideration for our film? It’s highly unethical. We are not moving out at any cost. But we want to know how a film’s release can be announced without shooting a single frame?”
Neeraj, who is currently in Mauritius hunting for locations for his untitled Akshay-starrer, says, “Fortunately or unfortunately release dates are a great event in the box-office calendar. We’ve chosen to reserve January 26 as the release of our film although we haven’t even started shooting the film.” When informed of the Gabbar release on the same day Neeraj replies, “I am not aware of which other films are releasing that day. If Gabbar is also coming we are fine with that.”