Akshay Kumar's magnanimous gesture of postponing his PadMan to accommodatePadmaavat has not gone unnoticed by the film industry. The entire industry is talking about his extreme largesse.
But not much is known on how the largesse was pulled off.No doubt the gesture was generous, but not entirely without selfinterest
A source in the know informs, "It was a marvellous marketing manoeuvre. In one stroke Akshay made himself out to be the hero rescuing Padmaavat from its crisis. But look closer. He actually did his own film a favour.His entire marketing team advised him to pull out of the January25 release slot after Padmaavat came into the picture.With Padmaavat around ,PadMan would have lost at least 45 percent of its intended viewership. Also , with all the threats of violence hovering over Padmaavat the multiplex theatres screeing bothPadmaavat and PadMan would have witnessed a reduction in visitors. Families wary of unrest would have stayed away from both films.
Sources say Akshay would have pulled out anyway before Sanjay Bhansali showed up with his request to postpone PadMan.
And therein lies another story.
Apparently Bhansali was reluctant to personally meet up with Akshay with the request.
"He wanted to leave it to his producers Viacom 18. But it was felt by the entire team thatBhansali should personally request Akshay. Varna achcha nahin lagega(or else it won't be proper), says the source.
Vasudha
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