Actors Vidyut Jammwal and Shruti Haasan are set to entertain the audience with their next release Power on ZeePlex, the pay-per-view platform of Zee Entertainment has bagged the exclusive rights to release the film.

Keeping up with its promise to bring forth the best entertainment, in theatre style, India’s first C2H model ZeePlex allows its viewers to pay only for the show that they want to watch, instead of subscribing to the entire platform.

The story of Power revolves around hatred, anger, love and revenge. The thriller is a complete entertainer and promises a worth-it time. Set in the backdrop of the 90s, the story of Power showcases the journey of two lovers who get entangled in a family feud. It explores their battle for their love and what is right or wrong.

Talking about bringing yet another prized jewel to ZeePlex, Shariq Patel, CEO ZeePlex, says, “Power is a very entertaining film and goes well with our endeavor to bring only the best content for our viewers. We are sure that Power, as a ZeePlex exclusive, will be enjoyed by the audience. We at ZeePlex are in a constant rush to bring the best content from all over the world to our viewers. Power is one such story and we are determined to back such out-of-the-box stories”.

Filmmaker David Dhawan and his son and actor Varun Dhawan have both carved a name for themselves in the comedy genre. The father-son duo have worked together in three films with Coolie No. 1 being their latest release. The film saw Varun romancing Sara Ali Khan and they had intimate scenes in the film. In an exclusive conversation with Bollywood Hungama, David Dhawan spoke about directing Varun’s kissing scenes.

When asked if it is easy or difficult to direct kissing scenes with one’s son involved, David Dhawan said, “It is not at all difficult. We are professional people and when we are shooting, I do not ask him if we should do this or not, it’s always we have to do this. If there is a kissing scene’s demand, then we do it. Practically there is nothing wrong.”

“Kissing scenes are very casual in Indian films today. And it is very fair. When you do it professionally you don’t look left, right, center. There is nothing to be ashamed of. It is very practical today. We do it professionally, but how the hero and heroine do it, that is up to them,” he added.

The theatres have resumed operations from November 2020 in most parts of the country. Yet, the filmmakers of the big, tent pole films didn’t straightaway go for a release. They preferred to wait to gauge and understand whether the audiences are ready to come to cinemas or still fear that they’ll catch the virus. This waiting period however has stretched to two months. Except Madam Chief Minister on January 22 and Aadhaar on February 5, no other Hindi film is scheduled for release in cinemas in the near future. Both are small-budget films and the exhibitors are constantly demanding that the big films should release ASAP to revive the cinema business.

The scenario in the South, meanwhile, is completely opposite. They started releasing their small and mid-sized films in 2020 itself. On January 13, Thalapathy Vijay’s much awaited Master arrived in cinemas on January 13. Its box office performance is extraordinary. Looking at the collections, one might feel that there’s no pandemic going on in the country! It gave a clear indication that come what may, the audiences are ready to come to theatres to watch a big, exciting flick.

And hence, the question that the trade is asking is – will we finally come to know when are Sooryavanshi and ’83 coming in cinemas? Both these films were all set to release but had to be postponed at the eleventh hour due to the imposition of the lockdown in March 2020. Hence, these two biggies would be the first big films to release in theatres.

Shibasish Sarkar, Reliance Entertainment Group CEO is a co-producer in both the films and has been constantly inundated with calls from media and trade, wanting to know an update about these films. When Bollywood Hungama reached out to him, he exclusively said, “It’s a decision which the directors, actors and we producers (of Sooryavanshi and ’83) have to take. I have not met them in the last 10-15 days. I aspire to bring at least one big film in the last week of March.”

Shibasish Sarkar, however, admits that Master’s historic opening, despite 50% occupancy rule, has been heartening. He revealed, “The thunderous opening of Master will give a lot of confidence to a lot of filmmakers. Not just Master, but even the performance of Krack (Telugu film starring Ravi Teja and Shruti Haasan) has been quite motivating for Hindi film producers, especially for those who have been sitting on the fence and who have been not sure whether or not to release their films. All credit goes to the makers of these films who bit the bullet and took the plunge. Apart from these two, a few more films have also been released in Tamil and Telugu.”

So when can we expect an announcement about the release dates? To which he replied, “For me to say that when we’ll make the announcement of the release dates of Sooryavanshi and ’83 is wrong as I have not even met the stakeholders. But definitely, we plan to make the decision soon, in a week or 10 days.” He adds, “We’ll conclude the discussion soon. There’s no other big film on the horizon seeking a release in the next two months. Radhe – Your Most Wanted Bhai (starring Salman Khan), of course, is scheduled for Eid.”

The journey of bringing both these films to cinemas won’t be easy, however. The multiplexes would be hoping that the old arrangement of VPF, revenue sharing and 8 week gap between theatrical and OTT release should be maintained. The producers, meanwhile, would want

changes. Shibasish Sarkar makes it clear that he has no information about these aspects, “Once we make up our minds about the release dates, then definitely we’ll take up these issues with the exhibitors. Right now, in the absence of a release date, there’s no point in talking about these things with the concerned parties.”

Besides Sooryavanshi and ’83, Reliance Entertainment also plans to bring three South films in theatres soon – Jagame Thandhiram, Aelay and Mandela. Jagame Thandhiram stars Dhanush and is expected to hit cinemas next month itself, in February 2021.

Sooryavanshi stars Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Gulshan Grover, Jaaved Jaaferi and Sikander Kher. Directed by Rohit Shetty, it is a part of his cop universe franchise and would also feature Ajay Devgn and Ranveer Singh, reprising the roles of Singham and Simmba, respectively. Meanwhile, ’83, as the name suggests, is based on the Indian Cricket Team’s unbelievable victory in the 1983 Cricket World Cup. Directed by Kabir Khan, it stars Ranveer Singh along with Deepika Padukone, playing his wife. Actors like Tahir Raj Bhasin, Ammy Virk, Saqib Saleem, Hardy Sandhu, Sahil Khattar and others play the rest of the team members.

All set to star in The White Tiger with Priyanka Chopra Jonas for the first time, Rajkummar Rao couldn’t help but praise the global star. Calling her phenomenal, Rajkummar Rao said that despite being a global star, she never made anyone on the set feel like she was a big star, she would help him enhance his performance and would even help him out in the scenes. While he hopes to work with her more, Rajkummar Rao admitted that the reason why he became an actor was because of Shah Rukh Khan.

He has always been a huge fan of Shah Rukh Khan’s work and he could relate himself to the superstar’s journey. Rajkummar Rao says that seeing him on-screen made him want to be an actor, too. He further said that SRK taught him that if you have a dream and you’re ready to work hard, the dream will come true. Known for his charms, Rajkummar Rao says Shah Rukh Khan makes everyone feel s special and that there’s so much to learn from him as a person and as an actor.

Rajkummar Rao first met him after the success of Queen, and when he got invited to his trailer, he was surprised that Shah Rukh Khan knew his entire bio. Rajkummar Rao couldn’t express how happy he was to have met him.

Sooraj Barjatya is known to make movies that re bound to hit the right chord among its audience. Only recently it was announced that Sooraj Barjatya will be making a grand film with Salman Khan in the lead, knowing he’s one of the director’s favourites, the fans are super excited to be seeing the director-actor duo reunite after Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.

Before Sooraj Barjatya moves on to his upcoming project with Salman Khan, he will be directing Amitabh Bachchan and Boman Irani in a film based on friendship. While he has explored love and extended families in his previous projects, this film is being said to be unlike any of his other directorial so far. Marking the first project of Sooraj Barjatya and Amitabh Bachchan’s collaboration, the film is being said to be a heartfelt tale of friendship between two older men.

After this, he will move on to direct Salman Khan for the fifth time and it is being said to be a mature story revolving around a married couple and nuclear family.