Pratik Gandhi became an actor to watch out for, with his powerful performance as Harshad Mehta in the 2020 acclaimed web series, Scam 1992. As expected, he was flooded with offers after this show and he signed some interesting projects. Interestingly, it seems he’s all set to have three releases in a span of 21 days this year. March 22 will see the release of Madgaon Express, co-starring Divyenndu and Avinash Tiwary. It marks the directorial debut of Kunal Kemmu. A week later, Do Aur Do Pyaar will arrive in cinemas, co-starring Vidya Balan, Ileana DCruz and Sendhil Ramamurthy. And less than two weeks later, he might have a third release – Phule – on April 11. If this happens, the biopic will clash with two of the most awaited films of 2024, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and Maidaan.
Phule, as the name suggests, is the biopic of social activist Mahatma Jyotirao Phule. Patralekhaa essays the role of Savitribai Phule and the film focuses on how they both batted for women’s education. It is directed by Ananth Narayan Mahadevan and in an interview with Mid-Day last month, he confessed that the makers are looking at releasing the film on April 11, since it’s the birth anniversary of Jyotirao Phule.
Ananth Narayan Mahadevan said, “My producers Ritesh Kudecha, Pranay Chokshi and Sunil Jain are planning to release it on April 11, which is Jyotiba’s birth anniversary.” In this news report, he was also quoted as saying, “Phule is my biggest film to date. The best part was that we hunted down locations in the Maharashtra belt that existed during their time, the 1860s. So, we didn’t have to create artificial sets.”
April 11 also happens to be the time of the festival of Eid this year. Bade Miyan Chote Miyan was the first film to take the slot. It stars Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Manushi Chhillar, Alaya F, Sonakshi Sinha and Prithviraj Sukumaran. It is directed by Ali Abbas Zafar.
Maidaan, meanwhile, features Ajay Devgn, Priyamani and Gajraj Rao. It is directed by Amit Ravindernath Sharma and produced by Boney Kapoor, Akash Chawla, Arunava Joy Sengupta and Zee Studios. Ajay plays Syed Abdul Rahim, an accomplished Indian coach in this film, which has music by A R Rahman.
Also Read: Phule First Look: Pratik Gandhi and Patralekhaa play Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and Dnyanajyoti Savitribai Phule, see photo