Mumbai, March 22: Bollywood star Akshay Kumar on Saturday announced his upcoming film “Kesari Chapter 2”, which also stars Ananya Panday and R. Madhavan, is locked for April 18 release worldwide.

Akshay took to his Instagram, where he shared a motion poster of the upcoming film and mentioned that the teaser will release on March 24.

The motion poster features a bloodied brick wall with bullet marks. It had: “A revolution painted in courage… Kesari Chapter 2” as gunshots could be heard.

“Kuch ladaaiyan hathiyaaron se nahi ladi jaati. #KesariChapter2 teaser out on 24th March. In cinemas 18th April, worldwide. @actormaddy @ananyapanday @karanstyagi @karanjohar @adarpoonawalla @apoorva1972 @bindraamritpal @anandntiwari @marijkedesouza @somenmishra @vbfilmwala @sumit.saxena.35912 @azeemdayani @dharmamovies #CapeOfGoodFilms,” he wrote as the caption.

On Friday, Akshay celebrated six years of ‘Kesari’ which was released in 2019.

Akshay took to his Instagram, where he shared some stills from “Kesari”, which had an overlay text reading: “6 years ago… A story of courage shook the nation.”

It went on to say: “21 Sikhs against thousands of Afghans. Outnumbered. Surrounded. But never defeated.They fought like lions, they became legends.”

“History wrote one chapter… Now, we tell the next. The saffron rises again. New battle, same fire. Tomorrow.

For the caption, he wrote: “Celebrating 6 years of Kesari. Celebrating the spirit of Kesari. Celebrating a new chapter that begins…soon!”

Kesari followed the events leading to the Battle of Saragarhi, a battle between 21 Sikh soldiers of the 36th Sikh Regiment of the British Indian Army and 10,000 Afridi and Orakzai Pashtun tribesmen in 1897.

Going by the motion poster of ‘Kesari Chapter 2’, it is reportedly based around the untold story of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

On March 20, Karan revealed that he is introducing a new filmmaker through the upcoming film. He shared a long note in which he shared that the director in question dedicated 4-5 years of their time to the project, and battled the delays induced by the pandemic.

Chennai, Mar 22: The makers of director Ashok Teja’s eagerly awaited supernatural thriller, ‘Odela 2’, featuring actress Tamannaah Bhatia in the lead, on Saturday announced that the film would hit screens worldwide on April 17 this year.

Taking to its social media handles, one of the creators of the film Sampath Nandi Teamworks announced, “When darkness reigns and hope fades, ‘Shiva Shakti’ awakens. #Odela2 Grand release worldwide on April 17th. Get ready for a divine thriller on the big screens. #Odela2OnApril17”

The film has triggered huge expectations as this is the second instalment from the ‘Odela’ franchise, the first instalment of which was titled ‘Odela Railway Station’. The franchise has been created by Sampath Nandi and the sequel stars Tamannah Bhatia in the lead. Produced by D Madhu under the direction of Ashok Teja, the film has music by Ajaneesh Loknath and cinematography by Soundar Rajan.

Art direction for the film is by Rajeev Nair.

A teaser released earlier by the makers disclosed that ‘Odela 2’ will revolve around the theme of the divine taking on the dark forces.

The teaser, which is devoid of any dialogues save one, shows an engrossing and spine-chilling conflict happening between the divine and the dark.

The film’s teaser has a tagline that says that ‘When the devil returns to haunt, the divine too returns.’ The teaser has one dialogue that is uttered by the dark power. The dialogue goes, “Water, fire, air, earth and sky… all five elements are slave to my might.” And what follows this dialogue are some scintillating visuals that suggest the divine taking down the dark.

One reason why the film has caught the attention of fans and film buffs is that Tamannaah, for the first time in her two-decade-old career, appears to play the role of a Saadhvi in this film.

Apart from Tamannah, the film will also feature a host of stars including Hebbah Patel, Dayanand Reddy, Yuva, Murali Sharma, Sharath Lohitashwa, Srikanth Iyengar, Naga Mahesh, Vamshi, Gagan Vihari, Surender Reddy, Bhupal and Pooja Reddy among others.

During a conclave, Jaya Bachchan took a dig at Akshay Kumar starrer Toilet Ek Prem Katha. She mocked the title of the film, and called it a ‘flop’. Now, the co-producer of Toilet Ek Prem Katha, Prerna Arora, has reacted to Bachchan’s statement. She stated that she is a huge fan of the veteran actress and that’s why her statement has hurt her. Arora also told Bachchan to check the box office numbers of the film.

According to Bollywood Hungama, while talking about Jaya’s statement, Arora said, “Let me first state that I am a huge, HUGE fan of Jayaji. For me, she is the ultimate. I can watch Guddi, Uphaar, Abhimaan, and Mili anytime, anywhere, and feel happy about life. It is, therefore, very hurtful to hear her say that our film Toilet Ek Prem Katha was a flop. Ma’am should check the box office figures. Our film earned a very handsome profit. It was one of the five biggest hits of 2017.”

While talking about the title of the film, Arora revealed that even they weren’t sure about it initially as it seemed risky to have the word ‘toilet’ in the title. However, later they agreed to it.

Arora, who has produced multiple Hindi films, said that as a producer she has taken risks. She also pointed out that even Jaya Bachchan took risks in her career. The producer said, “Jaya Ma’am took risks with her role choices all the time. She did Doosri Sita, where she played a woman who murders her abusive husband.”

She concluded by stating that she is very proud of Toilet Ek Prem Katha, and would love to show it to Jaya Bachchan if the veteran actress permits.

During India TV’s She conclave, Jaya Bachchan was asked about movies that promote government’s social issues and campaigns, and when she was given an example of Toilet Ek Prem Katha, the veteran actress said, “Abhi aap naam bhi dekhiye, main aisi picture khud kabhi naa dekhne jao. Toilet Ek Prem Katha, yeh koi naam hai? Yeh koi title hai? (Look at the name of the film, I would never go to watch such movies. Toilet Ek Prem Katha, is this even a title?).”

She then asked the audience whether they will go and watch a movie which has a title like this. When only a few people raised their hands, Bachchan said, “Itne log mein chaar log haath utha rahe hai, very sad. Picture flop hai. (In so many people, only four have raised their hands, very sad. Movie is a flop).”