Akshay Kumar's Bell Bottom heads for a theatrical release on 19 August

Following yesterday's announcement by the government of Maharashtra that cinema halls in 25 districts of the state, including Mumbai, will soon be allowed to reopen at 50% capacity, the makers of Bell Bottom (2021) have been first off the blocks to announce the revised release date for their film.

The espionage thriller, starring Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta and Huma Qureshi, will now be released in theatres on 19 August. Earlier, it was slated to be released worldwide on 27 July.

The new poster for the film features the entire cast walking out on the tarmac, with a plane in the background. The film is set in the late 1970s and is purportedly based on a true incident.

Announced in 2019, the film was initially scheduled to be released in theatres on 2 April 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the shooting schedule. In February this year, the makers announced that the film would be released theatrically on 28 May, and later revised the date to 27 July.

While there have been rumours that the film would head directly to an OTT platform, the makers held firm on the idea of releasing it in theatres. In May, Pooja Entertainment put out a statement which sought to quell these rumours. It read, 'Any announcement regarding the impending release of the film will be made by Pooja Entertainment at the opportune time. Nobody other than Pooja Entertainment has the mandate to make any statements with regard to any development with the film.'

Bell Bottom is produced by Vashu Bhagnani's Pooja Entertainment in association with Nikkhil Advani's Emmay Entertainment and directed by Ranjit M Tewari.

Earlier this week, the government of the national capital territory of Delhi also allowed theatres to reopen at 50% capacity while maintaining COVID-19 protocols. 

Maharashtra and Delhi are the two biggest markets for theatrical revenue for Hindi films.