Tough Road Ahead: Alia Bhatt’s Film Sadak 2’s First Look Released Amid Nepotism Debate

Earlier this year, producer Dinesh Vijan had to take the difficult call of releasing Irrfan Khan starrer Angrezi Medium on Amazon Prime hardly a month after its theatrical release. A first in the cinematic space, the step had to be taken because of the film’s poor box office collections, all thanks to the coronavirus crisis. While many other producers and filmmakers have kept the release of their big-budget movies stalled through the lockdown, they are now beginning to relent and change their minds. 

Recently, Shoojit Sircar directorial Gulabo Sitabo saw an OTT release followed by Vidya Balan’s Shakuntala Devi and Janhvi Kapoor starrer Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl that would be available on Netflix this Wednesday i.e. August 12th. Additionally, Mahesh Bhatt’s big-budget filk, Sadak 2 has also been slated for an OTT release now. While the film was supposed to have a theatrical release in July, Bhatt took the call of releasing it is on Disney+ Hotstar owing to the unabating pandemic. 

“I am compelled to come (on digital platform) because I don’t see any light in the near future. This is the best I can do to survive. There are certain things that you do, not out of choice but out of compulsion. This is the only option left. It is a no-brainer,” Mahesh Bhatt said in a June interview. 

Earlier today, the film’s character posters revealing actors Alia Bhatt, Aditya Roy Kapur, and Sanjay Dutt’s first looks were released. Alia Bhatt took to Instagram to share the posters ahead of the film’s OTT release on August 28th. “Asli himmat woh hoti hai, jo darr ke bawajood bhi, jutaani padti hain (True courage is what one must summon, despite fear),” she captioned the poster with her first look:

 

The poster with Aditya’s character was captioned, “Ishq Kamaal.. Jis tan lagya, Ishq kamaal (Love is wonderful for whoever is struck by it).” 

Meanwhile, contrary to his appearance in the first 1991 instalment of the film, Sanjay looks quite imposing in his poster which was captioned, “Teri bandook ki nalli mein mujhe jannat nazar aati hain (I can see heaven in the barrel of your gun).”

Additionally, a poster with the film’s cast together has also been released. It has been captioned, “SADAK 2 – The road to love is the ONLY road to take.”

Sadak 2 is a much-anticipated film and is a sequel to the 1991 movie starring Pooja Bhatt and Sanjay Dutt. According to the makers, the movie was an ambitious, big-budget project, but they are opting for a digital release in order to ‘survive’. The film also marks the first collaboration between Mahesh and Alia.

That said, the film is likely to face other challenges as well given the ongoing nepotism debate in the entertainment industry. In fact, in the recently released posters and trailer of Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl all credits were dropped fearing a backlash owing to the fact that Karan Johar has produced the movie. However, no such thing has been done with Sadak 2, the credits are intact, and the film is being heavily trolled on social media owing to the Bhatt family as well as Sanjay Dutt’s name associated with it. Long things short, the makers have a long road to navigate. Let’s see how it goes!

Featured Image: Instagram