Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan and John Abraham set to open decks for Bollywood with action biggies

Roohi has restarted the campaign for Bollywood exactly a year after theatres had shut down in March last year, and soon it would be time for quintessential biggies to start their invasion at the box office. Though there are a dozen odd releases that have already been planned for weeks to come, all eyes are on the three big ones which would be arriving in quick succession.

These films are Sooryavanshi, Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai and Satyameva Jayate 2.

Though it had earlier seemed that Akshay Kumar starrer Sooryavanshi would be releasing on April 2, dispute between the makers and the exhibitors followed by the erratic pandemic situation in Maharashtra resulted in the announcement for the next date going on hold. However, all decks have now been cleared for the Rohit Shetty film which is set to arrive on April 30. Even as an official announcement followed by the new poster and the promo are set in a few hours from now, rest assured there would be massive 'dhamaka' once that happens.

Meanwhile, Salman Khan has made the announcement public already by releasing the new poster of the film. His film release and the festive occasion of Eid go hand in hand, and that's the core pitch of the promotion and marketing of Radhe as well. Being hailed as Eidi for the audience, as promised a year back, the action entertainer with Salman Khan playing a cop has been much awaited ever since its announcement. Though the film was earlier slated for release last Eid, it would now be making it this Eid on May 13.

As for Satyameva Jayate 2, it was meant to be a big Gandhi Jayanti release last year. However, the John Abraham starrer had not even gone on floors when the pandemic struck, which allowed flexibility around not just the release date but also the script positioning. From Mumbai, action shifted to Lucknow and that also resulted in changes to be made in the script, characterisation and screenplay. Nonetheless, it was pronto announced that it would be Eid 2021 arrival for the Milap Zaveri sequel to his hit film, which should brighten up the festival.

What makes the release of Sooryavanshi, Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai and Satyameva Jayate 2 all the more special is the fact that each of these is an action drama in the offering with a macho hero at the helm of affairs. Akshay Kumar has done quite a few character-centric films in the last few years and delivered blockbusters. Now he would be seen as a cop after a hiatus and though he isn't in a Rowdy Rathore mode here, an urban suave uniformed officer should be a delight to watch on the big screen.

As for Salman Khan, Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai is expected to be more in a no-nonsense cop zone a la Wanted, instead of Dabangg franchise which has him more in a fun zone. Incidentally, both Wanted and Dabangg 3 have been helmed by Prabhudeva, which means the director-actor 'jodi' would have certain figured out the dimension that they would like to pick in their latest outing. Action should be the key here and with Salman Khan catering to the masses, expect a lot of 'masala' for his target loyal audiences.

John Abraham is bracing up for the clash though with Salman Khan as he brings the second installment of his Satyameva Jayate franchise which had shocked the trade when the first installment arrived on the Independence Day weekend of 2018. Despite the clash with Akshay Kumar's Gold, it had taken a massive opening and dominated single screens in a big way. The makers [Emmay Entertainment] would be expecting the same in 2021 as well with John Abraham bringing all the brawn into play in a double role act where he is also bringing in dose of patriotism.

Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan and John Abraham have a task in hand to make their biggies count and with their three films arriving in a matter of a fortnight, it should indeed be celebration times for the distributors as well as exhibitors who have been waiting since the release of Baaghi 3 to have some quintessential hero-driven action films to arrive at the big screens and set the cash registers rolling.

Release dates:

Sooryavanshi - April 30

Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai - May 13 (Eid)

Satyameva Jayate 2 - May 13 (Eid)