Yesterday, the trade and social media went berserk when they came to know that the much-awaited film of 2024, Pushpa 2: The Rule, may not arrive on August 15 as was slated. In the evening it emerged that Akshay Kumar’s comedy drama Khel Khel Mein that was originally scheduled for release on September 6 has now been preponed to Independence Day. On the other hand, Vedaa starring John Abraham was shifted from July 12th to August 15th earlier this week. Therefore, this would be the third time Akshay Kumar and John Abraham will clash on Independence Day.
The first such clash between them happened in 2018. Akshay Kumar’s period sports film Gold took a huge opening of Rs.25.25 crores. The movie soon dropped off but still managed to cross Rs.100 crores mark. Satyameva Jayate by John Abraham opened at Rs 19.50 crores which shocked the industry; lifetime collections were Rs80 .50 crores making it a Super-Hit.
One year after that Akshay Kumar again had his career best start ever with Mission Mangal on Independence Day itself. It netted an amount of ₹29.16 Crore (US$4 Million) on its first day of release itself which also made it Akshay’s first ₹200 crore grosser. Batla House starring John Abraham also had a praiseworthy opening day figure – Rs14 crore. The word of mouth helped this movie earn ₹87.22 Cr in its lifetime.
This shows both actors enjoyed great success during National Holiday. Such clashes never led to ugly fights over screen sharing and the release happened peacefully. Also, these clashes never led to ugly fights over screen sharing and the release happened peacefully. It seems like even in 2024, there will be no exception for Independence Day.
Khel Khel Mein, apart from Akshay Kumar, also features Taapsee Pannu, Vaani Kapoor, Ammy Virk, Aditya Seal, Pragya Jaiswal and Fardeen Khan. It is directed by Mudassar Aziz and is produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Vipul D Shah, Ashwin Varde, Rajesh Bahl, Shashikant Sinha and Ajay Rai.
Sharvari who is currently enjoying the success of Munjya in Vedaa. The action entertainer is stylishly cut teaser of which was eye catching. It is backed by Zee Studios.
Surprisingly enough, Akshay Kumar and John Abraham have had clashes even beyond Independence Day. Akshay’s Khakee released on Republic Day weekend of 2004 alongside John’s Aetbaar. While the former was a decent success the latter proved to be a disaster. Similarly multi-starrers’ Insan with Akshay Kumar and Elaan starring John Abraham clashed on Jan 14th 2005. All failed at the box-office more so because none were able to live up to their billing as biggies.
