It has been an exciting year for Akshay Kumar so far. If Baby, an offbeat song-less gritty dramatic action thriller came close to entering the 100 Crore Club (it netted 96 crore in the final run), his out and out commercial entertainer Gabbar Is Back broke the jinx at the Box Office (which was reeling with a series of flops and disasters) and netted 88 crore. As a matter of fact by the time Tanu Weds Manu Returns released in May end, Akshay’s Baby and Gabbar Is Back were the only two films to have turned into good grossers.
For an industry that was ailing with no footfalls whatsoever except for a handful of films, Akshay was helping it gain some footfalls at the least.
Now that film industry ke achche din aa gaye hain, what with Tanu Weds Manu Return 2, ABCD 2 and Bajrangi Bhaijaan turning out to be huge and even dubbed/English affairs like Bahubali, Fast and Furious 7, Jurassic World and Avengers 2 turning out to be mighty successful too, Akshay Kumar’s Brothers is arriving at just the right time.
While no one is disputing the fact that this is set to be a 100 crore affair at the very least, one waits to see how much further does it go from here.
First and foremost, the film is in zone that would be lapped up by Akshay Kumar fans. While the film has been rightly marketed as an out and out action affair, the theme of two warring brothers means that Akshay has a stage set to get the right emotional appeal on screen. Moreover, Sidharth Malhotra has been seen in three diverse movies in his budding career so far and his last, Ek Villain, was a 100 crore hit. His presence in Brothers is adding just the right weight to the film. Pun intended.
For audience, there is clearly an entertainer in the offering by the Agneepath team of Karan Malhotra and Karan Johar. The film’s timing is perfect too as it releases in the Independence Day weekend with Saturday (15th August) touted to be huge.
While Akshay continues to appear at an average of three-four films a year, he has Singh Is Bliing already announced for 2nd October, another national holiday. However before that he is set for a hat-trick with Brothers.
How big will it turn out to be is the only question that is waiting to be answered!
Joginder Tuteja tweets @tutejajoginder