In the year of the OTT, Akshay Kumar's Sooryavanshi, Ranveer Singh's 83 to have theatrical release

In a development that could come as a relief to the exhibitors and distributors, Reliance Entertainment has announced that its two major films like Sooryavanshi and 83 will have a theatrical release. The production house has confirmed the release plans of the upcoming Hindi films.

"We are committed to bring both Sooryavanshi and '83 in theatres whenever the exhibitors are open and whenever the audiences feel safe and comfortable to come back to cinemas. We feel and we hope that by Diwali and Christmas, the situation will be normal," Shibhashish Sarkar from Reliance Entertainment told Bollywood Hungama.

Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif's multi-starrer Sooryavanshi is an action film, directed by Rohit Shetty. The film was scheduled for release in May 2020, but it got delayed due to the deadly pandemic. Whereas Ranveer Singh's sports drama 83 was planned for release on 5 April.

Lockdown Impact
The film industry is now hoping that the two biggies will revive the business and pull the audience to theatres like earlier. The cinema halls have been shut since March mid-week after the government imposed complete lockdown across the country to prevent the spread of Covid-19 aka coronavirus.

With no signs of reopening of cinema halls, many movies are now skipping theatrical release and having digital premieres despite strong opposition from the exhibitors and multiplex owners.

On Monday, Hotstar+Disney announced that seven films that include a few biggies will have digital premieres. Sushant Singh Rajput's Bechara, Akshay Kumar's Laxmmi Bomb, Ajay Devgn's Bhuj – The Pride of India, Mahesh Bhatt's Sadak 2, Abhishek Bachchan's The Big Bull, Kunal Kemmu's Lootcase and Vidyut Jammwal's Khuda Hafiz will be directly released on the OTT platforms.