Akshay Kumar is confident about Raksha Bandhan & he’s not wrong

Aanand Rai had cast Akshay Kumar as a phantasmagorical figure in his last film _Atrangi Re_ . He existed only in Sara Ali Khan ’s mind. In a sense, this was a metaphor for the rapidly evaporating stardom of Bollywood’s A-listers. It exists only in their minds now. Most of them are being forced to come down to earth with a thud. Producers are no longer eager to pay them suitcases stuffed with money. Several production houses have sent out polite letters to stars to reduce their prices. Given the bleak scenario, the new Akshay Kumar starrer _Raksha Bandhan_ comes as a huge hope for the film industry. Among all the biggish films on release, this is the one that has generated the optimum interest level in the film trade.

“Akshay Kumar always had a family image. If you see his big hits from Jaanwar in 1999 to _Airlift_ in 2016 to _Mission Mangal_ to _Padman_ Akshay has always succeeded in roles and characters which require him to be the devoted family man. I am surprised no one thought of casting him as a doting brother before this,” says Bihar’s leading film exhibitor Roshan Singh. Director Aanand L Rai planned a sibling bonding family drama about a brother who is like a father to his sisters. He also planned the title to be date-appropriate and to release the film on Raksha Bandhan. I think one solution to the current imbroglio in the movie theaters is to make festival-centric films. A film on sibling kinship for rakshna bandhan makes as much box office sense as a film based on Eid to be released on the auspicious occasion. Or why not plan an entire film based on the nine days leading to the Navratri? Salman Khan attempted something on those lines for his brother-in-law Aayush Sharma . Salman‘s _Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali_ was meant to be neither on Eid nor Diwali. Salman planned another release strategy altogether. Neither Eid nor Diwali, he planned Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali for Christmas to accentuate the theme of unity in diversity. In Raksha Bandhan the audience, supposedly comprising sisters and brothers accompanied by the parents –in brief the entire family—is expected to be sizeable enough to make the film a big success over the first weekend itself. Anand Rai and his producer partners Zee Studios plan a Thursday blitzkrieg release (on August 11) regardless of the competition in the hope that the average Indian audience would welcome a film celebrating the festive weekend. Raksha Bandhan is not an expensive film. The budget recovery will be swift and relatively easy. Only the content needs to be strong. And that Anand Rai says is unquestionable. Will Raksha Bandhan be the fourth box office hit of 2022 after _The Kashmir Files_ , _Gangubai Kathiawadi_ and _Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2_ ? Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.