'Batla House', 'Mission Mangal', 'Saaho', 'Made in China' headed to a box-office clash on Independence Day in 2019

While holiday weekends at the box-office are traditionally occupied by one big film, Independence Day in 2019 is gearing up to witness maximum traffic by way of a four-way clash.

The slot has been locked by Akshay Kumar for the last two years with Shree Narayan Singh’s social comedy, 'Toilet: Ek Prem Katha', releasing on the coveted date in 2017, followed by Reema Kagti’s sport drama, 'Gold', this August.Next year, Khiladi Kumar’s 'Mission Mangal' will lock horns with the Dinesh Vijan’s quirky comedy Made in China featuring Rajkummar Rao, Nikkhil Advani’s real-life thriller, 'Batla House, frontlined by John Abraham, and 'Baahubali' star Prabhas’s 'Saaho'.
The national holiday weekend was initially claimed by Ayan Mukerji’s third directorial, the Ranbir Kapoor -Alia Bhatt fantasy action adventure, 'Brahmastra'. But the film is now out of the race owing to a prolonged post-production and is eyeing a Christmas 2019 release. Subsequently, Fox Star Studios, which is producing 'Mission Mangal' with Akshay and R Balki, have grabbed the slot for their mission to Mars. Prabhas’s futuristic action thriller, directed by Sujeeth, which arrives on the same Thursday, is reportedly one of the costliest Indian films ever made, and will release simultaneously in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
Interestingly, 'Saaho' and 'Batla House' have Bhushan Kumar, one of their co-producers, in common. But that’s where the similarity ends. The latter is based on the real 'Batla House' operation which took place a decade ago on September 19. John is playing a character modelled on Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, the then-ACP who led the encounter against the Indian Mujahideen. A source close to the development informs, “The release date of 'Batla House' was decided well in advance by Bhushan and Nikkhil, whereas 'Saaho'’s date came from producers down South. Both films are confirmed to open on the same day as of now, but who knows, things could change by mid-next year.”
Dinesh Vijan who tied the knot on December 13, is currently out of the country on his honeymoon and not expected to return to the city before next year. But a source close to the Made in China poducer told that as of now, the film is on course for the release.
R Balki said it is 'too early' to said if the makers of all four films would meet at some point to avoid the four-way clash.