Aiyaary, Padman, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, Pari — Padmaavat domino effect forced eight films to push release dates

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period drama Padmaavat may be making all the money in the world but the riches have come at a cost.

Shahid Kapoor and Deepika Padukone in a still from Padmaavat. YouTube

This cost has been borne by not only the makers of the film, given that it had to push its release date by a month and a half, but also other producers whose films were victims of the domino effect caused by the change in Padmaavat's release date.

102 Not Out

The much awaited historical film was originally scheduled to release on 1 December last year. As soon as the first look (featuring Deepika Padukone) was released, it created a ripple in the film industry.

Rishi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan in a still from 102 Not Out. YouTube

T-Series chose to push the release date of Umesh Shukla's comedy 102 Not Out, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor, which was slated to release on the same date, pitting Bachchan against his Piku co-star. 102 Not Out is now slated to release on 4 May.

Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran

Additionally, Abhishek Sharma's period drama Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran was originally scheduled to release on 8 December.

John Abraham in a poster of Parmanu: The Story Of Pokhran. Twitter@TheJohnAbraham

However, the John Abraham starrer was pushed to 23 February as the co-producer KriArj Entertainment wanted to play up this 'historically significant' project and did not want to be eclipsed by Padmaavat which would have released a week before.

After two more delays, Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran is now slated to release on 6 April.

Aiyaary and Padman

However, as fate (or Shri Rajput Karni Sena) would have it, the release of Padmaavat was 'voluntarily deferred' to 25 January, the Republic Day weekend. On that date, Akshay Kumar and Neeraj Pandey were already going heads on with their respective films, R Balki's social drama Padman and Pandey's espionage thriller Aiyaary, starring Sidharth Malhotra.

Interestingly, Aiyaary had announced its release date first last year but Pandey decided to push it to 9 February after Lyca Productions locked S Shankar's Rajinikanth starrer science fiction entertainer 2.0 for 26 January. Taking advantage of being an insider in 2.0 (Kumar plays the antagonist), Akshay announced Padman will release on his patented Republic Day weekend after he got aware of the delay in completion of VFX in 2.0, which would push the film indefinitely.

Manoj Bajpayee and Sidharth Malhotra in a still from Aiyaary. YouTube

Pandey then decided to move his film's release back to 25 January, ready for a clash with his longtime collaborator Akshay's film. Enter Padmaavat as the producers announced that the film would release on 25 January. This prompted Pandey to push Aiyaary back to 9 February as he could not afford a clash with two biggies in Padman and Padmaavat.

On the other hand, Kumar initially remained unaffected by the idea of a clash with Padmaavat as he said to IANS, "Every producer has the right to release their film on any date." However, Bhansali requested his Rowdy Rathore star to reschedule Padman's release as a lot was riding on his hugely mounted period film. Balki echoed Kumar's decision as he did not want the conversation around the film, related to menstrual health and taboos, to get overshadowed by the news of the protests against Padmaavat.

Akshay Kumar in a still from Padman/Image from Twitter.

As Padman moved to 9 February, it readied itself for a clash with Aiyaary yet again. But owing to an issues with multiplexes and delay in obtaining certification from the Central Board of Film Certification, the release date of Aiyaary was moved for the fourth time, to 16 February. The film is finally releasing this Friday.

Pari

Anushka Sharma starrer horror film was originally scheduled to release on 9 February. But after both Padman and Aiyaary (initially) moved to the same date in order to avoid competition from Padmaavat, Anushka and KriArj Entertainment pushed Pari's release date to the Holi weekend on 2 March.

A still from Pari. YouTube

Later, after the release date of Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran was shifted to 2 March from 23 February (owing to delay in shoot), KriArj Entertainment found themselves in a fix as two of their films would go heads on with each other. Thus, with the consent of co-producer Abraham, Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran was pushed again, to 6 April.

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety

Luv Ranjan's romantic comedy was originally slated to release on 9 February, a week prior to the Valentine's Day weekend, going in sync with its theme of the battle of the sexes.

Kartik Aaryan, Nushrat Bharucha and Sunny Singh in a still from Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety. YouTube

However, Ranjan chose against releasing his film on a crowded Friday with Padman and Aiyaary (initially) and decided to push the release date to 23 February. It will now clash only with Boom Boom In New York as Sidharth P Malhotra's Rani Mukerji starrer Hichki was postponed to 23 March.

Daas Dev and Dil Junglee

The Padmaavat ripple effect also caused Saqib Saleem and Taapsee Pannu starrer romantic comedy Dil Junglee, and Sudhir Mishra's Daas Dev, to push their release date from 16 February to 9 March.