Akshay Kumar's horror-comedy Laxmii to only have OTT premiere, despite reopening of cinemas

Akshay Kumar and Kiara Advani’s horror-comedy _Laxmii_ is set to exclusively premiere on Disney+ Hotstar at 7.05pm today. The film will not have a traditional theatrical release, despite the reopening of cinemas nationwide. However, the film will release in cinemas in select overseas markets with shows having commenced in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. Here are the updates

NO THEATRICAL RELEASE IN #INDIA... There was talk that #Laxmii *might* release at single screens in #India... Not true... It's a direct-to-digital release in #India... #Laxmii will release in *cinemas* in select #Overseas markets... Shows have commenced in #Australia, #NZ, #Fiji. pic.twitter.com/1dLy1zSviU

— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) November 9, 2020

A remake of the director Raghava Lawrence’w own Tamil hit, Kanchana, Laxmii is produced by Akshay Kumar’s Cape of Good Films, Fox Star Studios and Tusshar Kapoor. The film revolves around an unsuspecting man, whose body gets possessed by a spirit. The cast also includes Ashwini Kalsekar, Sharad Kelkar, Manu Rishi and Ayesha Raza. In an interaction with The Indian Express, Kumar said that in his career of three decades, playing Laxmii has been the most intense experience. The film, initially slated to release in cinemas on 22 May, faced a delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Laxmii is one of the  seven major Hindi movies  to get a direct-to-digital release on Disney+ Hotstar. Other films are Sushant Singh Rajput’s last film  _Dil Bechara_ , Mahesh Bhatt’s directorial comeback  Sadak 2 , Vidyut Jammwal’s  _Khuda Hafiz_ , Kunal Kemmu’s long delayed comedy  Lootcase , Ajay Devgn’s war drama Bhuj: Pride of India, and financial thriller The Big Bull.  Laxmii was previously titled _Laxmmi Bomb_ , but was changed after a Rajasthan-based outfit, Shri Rajput Karni Sena claimed that the name was derogatory towards goddess Laxmi.