Though Salman Khan wrapped up the shoot of Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai last week, his fans will have to wait for seven months to see him on the big screen. mid-day has learnt that the Prabhudheva-directed venture will hit the marquee on Eid 2021, a full year after its original release date. The new release date was apparently decided during a meeting on Monday that saw the superstar and co-producers Atul Agnihotri, Sohail Khan and Nikhil Namit in attendance.

It is heard that the makers were initially eyeing a date with the audience over the Republic Day weekend. "However, they were discouraged by the low footfall in theatres ever since they reopened at 50 per cent capacity in several states. Considering Radhe is a big-budget movie, the makers calculated that it will earn in the ballpark of Rs 120 crore, if released in the current circumstances. Taking this into account, the entire team — including its worldwide distributors Yash Raj Films — felt it would be wise to release it on May 12, 2021, thus keeping Salman's tradition of Eid offerings alive," says a source.

Trade analyst Atul Mohan hopes the situation will be under control by the summer of 2021. "It's prudent to release Radhe on Eid next year. Internationally, the makers of Fast & Furious too have pushed Fast 9 by a year," he says.

mid-day reached out to Sohail and Agnihotri, who did not respond till press time.