Mission Inspire begins for Akshay Kumar in new Mission Mangal poster

Akshay Kumar's Mission Mangal might be the next film to reinforce his image as the chosen actor for social dramas.

The film, which has an ensemble of five leading women, is set to be released on 15 August.

Sharing his reasons for doing the film, Akshay Kumar put out a post on his social media feed calling it 'a film for my daughter'.

The actor then shared the first poster for the film, which reveals the roles of the leading cast in the film.

Earlier, Akshay Kumar wrote, 'For several years, Hollywood made movies and TV shows like Star Trek, Star Wars, Gravity (2013), etc. This inspired an entire generation of inventors, scientists, and explorers... I have always wanted to be part of one such movie... a movie that inspires our future generations... one that celebrates imagination and curiousity.' 

Jointly produced by Fox Star Studios and Cape of Good Films, Mission Mangal is based on India's first Mangalyaan mission to Mars. The film marks the directorial debut of Jagan Shakti, who has been assistant and associate director on several projects like Cheeni Kum (2007), English Vinglish (2012), Thuppakki (2012), Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty (2014), Shamitabh (2015), Akira (2016) and Pad Man (2018). 

In his statement, Akshay Kumar went on to say that the film is 'a story that proves creativity, ideas and dreams have no limit... just like the sky!' 

The poster for the film captures Akshay Kumar playing the lead scientist for India's mission to Mars, with the rocket separating him from his team of scientists. The team includes an ensemble cast of Vidya Balan, Nithya Menon, Sonakshi Sinha, Kirti Kulhari and Sharman Joshi. 

The starry blue background of the poster is a contrast to the fiery orange afterburn of the rocket. Interestingly, while the rocket took off from Earth, the poster has an homage to the planet Mars, with Earth coloured in red soil.

Mission Mangal is scheduled for release on Independence Day 2019.