Bollywood asianculturevulture vibes – Last minute changes; Malayalam blockbuster held back; Akshay Kumar hit

April was the month of some big movie releases cancellations and a comedy which grew and grew

By Rodrigues C

IT’S ONLY April and Mumbai and the country is sweltering.

May, which is always hotter than April or June, is just around the corner and things are going to get tougher. Mumbai is usually not as hot as other regions in India but the humidity levels are high.

Bollywood and television show shoots often get affected due to heatwaves. So far there haven’t been any reports of shoots getting affected due to the hot summer.

The theatrical run of Ranveer Singh’s ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’ has almost come to an end. The movie did roaring business all over the world but failed to break the record of Aamir Khan’s 2016 hit ‘Dangal’.
As things stand, the action thriller has collected more than £143 million. ‘Dangal’ had minted £155 million. ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’ didn’t release in China, and the Middle-East, which is a major money spinner for Bollywood flicks.

Also, Aamir Khan is a big draw in China and ‘Dangal’ had drawn £99m from China alone, which is more than what most Hollywood movies make in the country.

In terms of box office releases, the biggest news in April was that three of the year’s biggest and most anticipated movies got postponed.

While one of the movies got rescheduled for the second time, two thrillers were scheduled to release in April itself.

Surprisingly, two of these three movies haven’t even got a new release date. Hard to digest isn’t it? Well, the first movie in question is ‘Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown Ups’, Yash’s first offering since his 2022 box office powerhouse ‘KGF: Chapter 2’. The movie was initially scheduled to hit theatres on March 19. Later, this date got rescheduled to June 4. And a few days ago, the movie’s June 4 release was completely shelved. The makers announced on social media that a new date will be soon announced soon. Yash also released an emotional message on social media about the film’s postponement of release date.

The second big ticket release, which was supposed to hit theatres on April 23, was abruptly rescheduled for March 31. But the good thing is that its new release date was announced on April 1.

Yes, we are talking about the much anticipated Malayalam espionage thriller ‘Patriot’ featuring heavyweights Mohanlal and Mammooty; its new release date is May 1 (tomorrow).

The third rescheduling was in the form of Telugu sports drama ‘Peddi’. The Ram Charan-Janhvi Kapoor film was initially scheduled to hit theatres on April 30. So far, the makers have only announced that the movie will release in June, no date has been fixed. AR Rahman has composed the music for the movie and its track ‘Chikiri Chikiri’ has already amassed more than 200 million hits online across various platforms.

With two big movies out of the fray in April, Akshay Kumar’s ‘Bhoot Bhangla’ was the only contender for box office glory in April, if not for a surprise package. On day one, April 17, the Priyadarshan directorial minted £964,000. Due to positive word of mouth publicity, the figure rose to £1.5m and £1.8m on day two and three. By the end of the first week in theatres, the so-called comedy horror had collected £7.4m. The film’s worldwide collections now stand at £15.3m – higher than Aki’s recent hits ‘Kesari Chapter 2’ (£11.4m), ‘Sky Force’ (£11.8m) and ‘Jolly LLB 3’ (£13.4m).

Budgeted at around £9.4m, the film has already made a profit, but it falls much short of last year’s Aki comedy ‘Housefull 5’ which collected £22.7m at the box office.

Arguably, the biggest surprise of the month was the Malayalam comedy drama ‘Vaazha 2: Biopic of Billion Bros’ by debutant director Savin SA.

Featuring, Hashir H, Alan Bin Siraj, Ajin Joy and Vinayak V; the movie has now become the highest-grossing film in Kerala, overtaking Kalyani Priyadarshan’s ‘Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra’ and Mohanlal’s ‘Thudarum’. The movie has collected £18m since its April 2 release. In fact, the first instalment had collected just about £3m in 2024. Releases such as ‘Pallichattambi’, ‘Ginny Weds Sunny 2’, ‘Love Insurance Kompany’ and ‘Dacoit: Ek Prem Katha’ had little or no impact at the box office in April. Is it because the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket returned this month?

May which is the month of school vacations and, of course, the peak summer heat, will see big movies such as ‘Raja Shivaji’ with Riteish Deshmukh, Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan and Salman Khan tomorrow (May 1), ‘Pati Patni Aur Woh Do’ with Ayushmann Khurrana and Sara Ali Khan on May 15 and ‘Aakhri Sawal’ with Sanjay Dutt and Amit Sadh on May 8 among others – that is only if there aren’t any last minute postponements. We will be watching, keep cool in India, time to take sunglasses out in London, the sun is shining… (for now – editor acv).