Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; January 10, 2018)

After much controversy, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavat (earlier titled Padmavati) is expected to hit the marquee on January 25. As is the case with big-ticket movies, the speculated release of the period drama has set off a domino effect at the theatres. While Akshay Kumar’s Pad Man is coming alongside the Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor starrer, several movies including Sidharth Malhotra’s Aiyaary and Sudhir Mishra’s DaasDev have revised their release dates.

Starring Richa Chadha, Aditi Rao Hydari and Rahul Bhat, DaasDev was slated for a February 16 release. However, considering Padmavat could well be running strong in its third week too, thus posing a threat to DaasDev, the makers have now postponed the release to the first Friday of March. Confirming the development, Mishra said, “The entire team is thrilled with the news of the release of Padmavat. To ensure our film too receives its share, we pushed the release to March 2. ”

Malhotra and Manoj Bajpayee-starrer Aiyaary, which was initially eyeing a Republic Day weekend release, promptly took the February 9 window to avert a face-off with the two biggies. The film will now clash with Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety.

Anushka Sharma’s production Pari was slated for a February 9 release. However, the actor-producer announced yesterday that the film will hit theatres on March 2 instead. A source reveals, “The makers didn’t want their film to come within a fortnight of Pad Man and Padmavat’s release, as that may imply bagging fewer screens.”