Akshay Kumar Bell Bottom banned in Gulf Countries for distorting U.A.E role in hijack drama

 Akshay Kumar's Bell Bottom released yesterday has it's bottoms ripped apart with  Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait banning the film. This takes away almost 50% of the overseas market of a Hindi film. The decision might lead to other Muslim countries that may follow UAE. Box office , the first day collections worldwide are not so encouraging with Rs 2-3 cr as trade expected Rs 5-6 cr on day one. Attendance was only 50% in movie halls. 1600 screens are showing the film in India.

Distributor of Hindi films abroad said that the makers of Bell Bottom had treated UAE as if it was Pakistan  and went ahead and distorted the entire real life hijack drama and make the  U.A.E Defence Minister, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum who handled the hijack crisis in 1984 as a `dummy' who was kept in the dark while Indian Intelligence men carried out the rescue operation. The truth was that it was because of the U A E pressure that the operation was successful.

Efforts are through diplomatic channels to pacify the U A E officials and dialogues and scenes which show that were found objectionable will be removed. Akashay Kumar has a track record of delivering hits with real life incidents as subjects. His film Airlift was based on prominent Indian businessman in Kuwait, Mathunny Mathews ( Toyoya Sunny), who was instrumental in the safe evacuation of stranded Indians during the Iraqi invasion in 1990. Padman was based on the real-life story of Arunachalam Muruganantham, who hails from a remote area in Tamil Nadu. He devised a clean and budget-friendly sanitary napkin for women who do not have access to proper sanitary facilities

Bell Bottom is the first STAR film to hit theaters ( in North India except Maharashtra). The theaters for the first time got a 60 % share of total collections in first week as it was 50-50 till now. Major players Tamilrockers streamed the film within few hours of the release across various sites.

Trade points out that pe- Covid biz is not seen for Akshay Kumar. The last film before Covid was Good Newwz,’  with Kareena Kapoor Khan, Diljit Dosanjh and Kiara Advani, grossed Rs 17.56 crore on Day 1 alone. Bell Bottom is directed by Ranjit M Tewari and stars Vaani Kapoor, Lara Dutta, and Huma Qureshi in prominent parts.