Joginder Tuteja (DNA; October 20, 2017)

Akshay Kumar continues to keep his promise of delivering multiple films every year. While in 2017 he has already delivered two superhits — Jolly LLB 2 and Toilet - Ek Prem Katha — and was also seen in an extended guest appearance Naam Shabana, there is a lot that is already in the offing for 2018 and 2019. No wonder, while his peers and contemporaries take their own sweet time to decide their next course of action, he already has five of his films in different stages of production with quite some calendar time available to accommodate at least two more films in his schedule over next couple of years.

“One look at his lineup says it all,” a prominent distributor observes, “2.0, Pad Man, Gold, Kesari and Mogul films have already been announced. Out of these, two are complete (2.0, Padman) and the third, Gold, is racing towards completion. The shoot of Kesari is expected to start by January and Mogul has its plans chalked out as well. Considering the pace at which Akshay works, it won’t be surprising if he is through with the shooting of these two films by the middle of 2018. Post that, he will have time in hand to start at least a couple of more films and have them ready for release by 2019.”

Currently, 2.0, Pad Man as well as Gold are scheduled for 2018 release, whereas Kesari arrives in 2019. There is no release date set for Mogul, though it could arrive in late 2018 or early 2019. This leaves slots up for grabs in 2019.

“No wonder, he’s the darling of exhibitors since he keeps the wheels churning for the industry,” an insider adds, “Even if his films do a business of Rs 100-150 crore, that’s good enough for all involved. Of course, films like 2.0, Gold, and Kesari are set to be much bigger and expect to bring in a lot of moolah. As for Pad Man, a Rs 100 crore total would be a major win since it’s again a social drama with humour.” Meanwhile, there is already buzz around Akshay gearing up for Housefull 4, while Crack had been announced some time back, before being put on hold.

“As always, no use speculating around his next,” a close associate of the actor adds, “For quite some time now, he has been announcing his films on the social media himself. Everything else that you hear is a rumour or not factual till he confirms it. When it is time for him to announce a new film, he will, and everyone will get to know about it. All I can say, though, is, stay tuned as some interesting developments are already underway and you will hear about them soon. After all, he is not going to rest; there is a lot more that he has up his sleeves beyond these five films.” Of course, fans are waiting.