The cast and crew of the upcoming film ‘Cheat India’ announced a new release date for the film on Friday evening.
The movie, which was slated to release on January 25, will now hit cinemas in India on January 18, thus avoiding a clash with the release of ‘Thackeray’.
Producer Bhushan Kumar and the lead actor of ‘Cheat India’ Emraan Hashmi made the announcement in the presence of the producer of ‘Thackeray’, Sanjay Raut.
‘Thackeray’ is a biopic about the Indian politician Bal Thackeray, who was the founder of political party Shiv Sena.
Aditya Thackeray, the grandson of Bal Thackeray, was present on the occasion.
Asked if the Shiv Sena created any pressure to change the release date, Kumar said: “We did not shift the release date under any pressure or ego but for a pure business reason. It was our way to pay respect to Balasaheb Thackeray.”
“Also, we would not have sat together on the same stage if we faced any pressure,” Thackeray said.
Other producers of ‘Cheat India’ — Tanuj Garg and Atul Kasbekar — were also present.
Another big-budget film ‘Manikarnika’ is also releasing on January 25. Asked if it could affect the business of ‘Thackeray,’ Raut said: “No, we did not think about that film, everyone has their right to put out their film. There is no problem.”
“Look, it is not about business, both the films are important, both have great content and these are true stories,” said Thackeray.
The film is releasing before this year’s general election of 2019. Asked if there is any political agenda behind it, Raut said, “When I started making the film, our aim was to finish the film in one year. Balasaheb Thackeray is an iconic personality that does not need any introduction about who he was and what he has contributed. We are not making a film to gain any political interest out of it.
“We made the film to bring the ideology of Balasaheb to the new generation. There are many things about him that common people do not know,” he added.
