Akshay Kumar-starrer Raksha Bandhan will hit the theatres on August 11, on the occasion of the eponymous festival, as planned and will not be an OTT release, director Aanand L Rai confirmed to Pinkvilla.
It was rumoured that the film would take the OTT route like Rai’s last outing, Atrangi Re, due to the ongoing pandemic. However, refuting these reports, the filmmaker told the publication, “Raksha Bandhan is a theatrical film and there are no changes in the plans. Even Atrangi Re was meant for the theatres. But from now onwards, we will be very precise on the films that we want in theatres and the ones that we want on OTT.”
Atrangi Re also featured Kumar and Raksha Bandhan marks the director’s second collaboration with the actor. Compared to the former, the upcoming one is a simple film of emotions, according to Rai. However, he found both challenging in their own ways. “Both the films were so challenging – one on its complications and the other one on its basics. Raksha Bandhan was not an easy film to make. It’s just so basic that one had to unlearn a lot of things. It was like a detox, a cleansing process,” he said.
Raksha Bandhan reportedly revolves around the brother-sister bond. It also stars Bhumi Pednekar and marks her second collaboration with Kumar after Toilet: Ek Prem Katha.
The film was announced in August 2020 and was supposed to release last November. However, due to the Covid-19 situation, it has been delayed.
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Raksha Bandhan is produced by Rai’s Colour Yellow Productions Pvt Ltd in association with Kumar’s Cape Of Good Films and presented by Rai and his sister Alka Hiranandani.
Rai plans take a break from directing for the time being after working on two back-to-back films. However, he has several upcoming production ventures, including Good Luck Jerry, starring Janhvi Kapoor, which is currently in the post-production stage. “It’s on the edit table and will be ready in a couple of months. You will soon know how we are going to place it. I also have Action Hero, which is presently on floors. We are also doing Gorkha with Akshay Kumar, which takes off in the second half of 2022,” he told Pinkvilla.