Akshay Kumar on Padman release date: Will postpone if clash with 2.0 cannot be averted

Akshay Kumar’s surprise announcement to release his social drama, R Balki’s  Padman, on Republic Day next year left the cinegoers wondering whether S Shankar’s sci-fi entertainer  2.0 is going to be pushed ahead. But after Lyca Productions confirmed that 2.0 is well on its way for a 25 January, 2019 release, Kumar’s fans were left torn between choosing his home production Padman, in which he plays the titular character, or 2.0, in which he plays a supporting role to Rajinikanth, though reportedly not a negative role .

Now, Kumar has cleared the air on the  Padman-2.0  clash. Mid-Day quotes him as saying,  “There is a lot of false information that is being circulated over both films releasing on the same day. Why would I clash with my own film? It will be either Padman or 2.0.” “While Padman is a film that I have produced,  2.0  belongs to Shankar, Rajinikanth and Lyca Productions. They will decide whether they want to release the film on Republic Day. If they do, I will postpone Padman and if they don’t, I will go ahead,” he says, as per the same report. There have been some rumours suggesting that Rajini’s mega-budget film may be pushed back to a later date as the special effects of this sci-fi drama may not meet the 25 January deadline. But Lyca Productions Creative Head Raju Mahalingam asserted that 2.0 will keep its date and will be looking for minimum 10,000 screens, making it one of the widest releases after Baahubali: The Conclusion. 2.0 also stars Amy Jackson, Adil Hussain and Sudhanshu Pandey. It is the sequel of Shankar’s 2010 Tamil film Enthiran. Padman also stars Sonam Kapoor and Radhika Apte, along with Amitabh Bachchan in a guest appearance. It is co-produced by Kumar’s Grazing Goat Pictures, Twinkle Khanna’s Mrs Funnybones Films and Balki, Gauri Shinde’s Hope Productions. It is adapted from Khanna’s short story in her second book The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad.