On Sunday, the makers of Sooryavanshi announced that the Akshay Kumar-starrer will hit the marquee on April 30, thus ending its year-long wait. Some may argue that the situation is far from ideal for a big-ticket release. Though the Centre allowed theatres to operate at 100 per cent occupancy from February 1 — a move that was implemented in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, among other states — cinemas in Maharashtra have been running at 50 per cent seating capacity as they await the green signal from the state government.

But the makers of the cop caper are confident of its box-office performance. Shibasish Sarkar, CEO, Reliance Entertainment group, says, “Regardless of the theatre capacity in different states, I am confident that Sooryavanshi will [bring in] the kind of numbers that it would have done in the pre-Coronavirus times. The state government determines theatre occupancy depending on the situation of the state.”

As cases are on the rise in Maharashtra, he knows that safety is the need of the hour. “We, along with the exhibitors, will request the government to increase the occupancy only if the situation improves. But we’ll be happy even if the film arrives amid the [restriction].”