Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; January 5, 2018)

While Akshay Kumar's decision to pre-pone the release of Pad Man to the Republic Day weekend has averted an expected clash with his other outing, 2.0, the reshuffling has caused havoc for Radhika Apte instead. Apte, who stars in the former, a fictionalised biographical account on social entrepreneur Arunachalam Muruganatham, will have to skip the promotions owing to her chock-a-block schedule.

She tells mid-day, "I was looking forward to being there to support Pad Man. Given that it revolves around the subjects of menstrual hygiene, there would have been a lot of ideas tossed around during the promotions. However, I have a big project lined-up, the filming for which will roll this month." While Apte chooses to remain silent about the venture, she reveals that the international outing pairs her alongside Dev Patel. "I am not sure if I will be in the country when promotional work picks up," says the actor, further heaping praise on her co-star, Kumar. "Akshay and I come from different schools of thought, but he is more experienced. As co-actors, we learnt from one another. That's how we created work that was new. I enjoy working with new people."

While Padman was to hit screens in March, Kumar also has Rajinikanth-starrer 2.0 in the pipeline. With production work for the latter underway, Kumar pre-poned the release of his home production to allot time for the sci-fi later.