Aanand L Rai directorial is slated to roll next summer
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 4, 2020)

Akshay Kumar’s new film, Raksha Bandhan, his second collaboration with Aanand L Rai, after the yet-to-release love story Atrangi Re, has him playing elder brother to four sisters. Mirror has learnt that the family-dramedy is all set to roll in summer 2021 and is eyeing a Diwali release. It could be the actor’s third consecutive Diwali release, after Housefull 4 and Sooryavanshi, which is hoping to make it to the theatres this festive season.

In an emotional statement, Akshay had revealed that the story had touched his heart, deeply and instantly. “It will make you laugh and it will make you cry. And it will make us realise how blessed are those who have sisters. It makes me happiest that my sister Alka Hiranandani is presenting and producing this film, along with ace director Aanand L Rai. Can’t thank him enough for bringing me one of the most special films of my life,” he stated, announcing the project on Monday, on the day of Raksha Bandhan.

According to a source, he came on board soon after the first narration. “The plan is to go on the floors around April with a start-to-finish schedule. There have been several films on the brother-sister bond in the past, but we haven’t seen one in the last decade. Aanand and his writer, Himanshu (Sharma), believe in rooting their characters in the heartland of India where the sibling bond is still strong,” informs the source.

Aanand describes the film as “a special tale which celebrates relationships in the most beautiful way”. He is excited to collaborate with Akshay again.

Before starting Raksha Bandhan, Akshay will wrap up Bellbottom, Atrangi Re, Prithviraj and Bachchan Pandey. Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi is already lined up for a theatrical release, while Laxmmi Bomb will go direct to digital.

He plans to make up to the exhibitors for a dry year with five releases in 2021. He was the first to start shooting during the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and has shot a couple of ad films and has done some promotional photoshoots for upcoming films. Later this week, he will fly off to Scotland for a month-long shoot of his espionage thriller, Bellbottom. In October, he starts a month-long schedule of Atrangi Re which will be shot in real locations in Madurai, Delhi and Mumbai. The cross-cultural romance is set in two different eras with Sara in a double role, paired with both Dhanush and Akshay.