‘Sooryavanshi’, ‘83’ might release digitally if Covid-19 situation worsens

PTI, Aug 23, 2020, 10:44 AM IST

Image Souce: IMDb

New Delhi: Reliance Entertainment Group CEO Shibashish Sarkar on Saturday said that they are “inclined” to release their much-awaited films Akshay Kumar-starrer Sooryavanshi and Ranveer Singh’s 83 in cinemas, but if there is a delay in the opening of theatres, they will explore the avenues for digital release.

Cinema halls across the country have been closed since the nationwide-lockdown was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Sooryavanshi, directed by Rohit Shetty, and Kabir Khan’s 83 were the first two big films to get theatrical release dates after the first Unlock was implemented in June.

Reliance Entertainment had announced that Akshay’s cop drama will hit the theatres on Diwali, while 83 will release on Christmas this year

“Just to reiterate we are 100% inclined to release Sooryavanshi & 83 in theatres. However, we do not want to push the release dates any further.

“If uncertainty continues on the opening of cinemas or the pandemic situation worsening, we will explore all options between theatrical, digital both TVOD (TVOD is transactional video-on-demand) & SVOD (SVOD is subscription video-on-demand) routes, in consultation with our director’s actors and partners,” Sarkar wrote on Twitter in response to rumors of the films making it to OTT.

Sooryavanshi was originally scheduled to release on March 24, while 83 was set to hit the cinema houses on April 10.

Sooryavanshi is the third film in Shetty”s cop universe after Ajay Devgn’s “Singham” and Ranveer-starrer Simmba.

The film is presented by Reliance Entertainment and produced by Rohit Shetty Picturez in association with Dharma Productions and Cape of Good Films.

83, which chronicles India’s first World Cup win under the captaincy of Kapil Dev in 1983, also stars Hardy Sandhu, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Jiva, Saqib Saleem, Pankaj Tripathi and Deepika Padukone.

The film is produced by Khan, Madhu Mantena, Vishnu Induri and presented by Reliance Entertainment.