Release of Helicopter Eela, starring Kajol and Riddhi Sen, has been postoned to 12 October. The family drama, produced by Ajay Devgn, was earlier slated to be released on 7 September.
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The decision comes after director Pradeep Sarkar was diagnosed with dengue. Sarkar is said to have come out of his hopsital bed to shoot for a special sequence with Amitabh Bachchan. The film now is in its post-production stage.
Producers Devgn and Jayantilal Gada (of PEN India Limited) felt it was approriate and fair that Sarkar himself completes the pending work. So, they decided to shift the release date.
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"That's the reason why we have shifted the release to 12 October. We want him [Sarkar] only to do all the work. We can't let anyone one else work on his baby," Gada told Cinestaan.
Sarkar braved to step out of his hospital bed, and the film's crew is said to have taken special care to ensure his health didn't suffer. "An ambulance and a doctor were kept on stand-by. Sarkar shot the scene with an IV drip to his hand. As soon as he finished shooting, he went back to hospital," said a source.
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Shifting to 12 Otober also bodes well for the film's business as it would have had to clash with three other films if it released on 7 September. With Helicopter Eela out, we will now see a three-way clash between JP Dutta's Paltan, Sajid Ali's Laila Majnu and Manoj Bajpyee's Gali Guleiyan at the box office.
As of now Helicopter Eela will only have to contend with Pushpdeep Bhardwaj's Jalebi.