The Diwali 2021 weekend was set to be a battle field with a three-way clash at the box-office between the Akshay Kumar fronted, Prithviraj, the Shahid Kapoor starrer Jersey and the union of four deols – Dharmendra, Bobby, Sunny and Karan – Apne 2. Pinkvilla has exclusively learnt that the family drama directed by Anil Sharma will no longer release during the festive weekend, and has been pushed ahead for a 2022 release. According to source, the shoot schedule of the film has been pushed by a couple of months, and hence, they won’t be able to meet the deadline of releasing on Diwali.
“It’s still being scripted and as against the initial plan of taking the film on floors by the month of April, the makers have now pushed the schedule to July. Apne has found appreciation from a section of audience, and taking it forward as a franchise is a challenge in itself. Anil Sharma and his team of writers, along with the Deol’s are working towards fine tuning the script, and also other elements of pre-production,” revealed a source close to the development.
Apne 2 takes off from where Apne ended, and this time around, the newest entrant to the cast, Karan, too will be playing a boxer in the emotional action drama. More details are still awaited. In the meanwhile, it’s now going to be just a two-way clash during the Diwali weekend, between Prithviraj and Jersey. While the Akshay Kumar film is a mega budget period drama on King Prithviraj Chauhan directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi marking the acting debut of Manushi Chillar, the Shahid Kapoor film is a remake of Telugu hit, Jersey, with Mrunal Thakur as the female lead.
Stay tuned to Pinkvilla to know more on the release calendar of Bollywood in 2021 as also the clashes.