Production houses announce release dates

New Delhi, June 5 (IANS) Post the extended dry spell at the box office owing to the stand-off between Bollywood producers and multiplex owners over revenue sharing, production houses have announced, beginning June 12, the release dates of some of the most awaited films slated hit the screens in the coming months.

The row between producers and multiplex owners over revenue sharing began in February. As a result, producers and distributors decided not to push any new releases in multiplexes after April 4.

Now that the strike is over, Hindi movie buffs will have quite a few reasons to cheer since there will be an array of big budget Bollywood films on offer - from Vishal Bharadwaj's "Kaminey" and Yash Raj Films' "New York" to Sajid Nadiadwala's "Kambhakkht Ishq" and Saif Ali Khan's "Love Aaj Kal".

The first film to hit multiplexes June 12 post the strike will be Vashu Bhagnani's "Kal Kissne Dekha" that will see his son, Jackky Bhagnani, and model Vaishali Desai making their debut.

The next in line is director Kabir Khan's "New York", a romantic thriller based on international terrorism. It is a contemporary story of three friends - John Abraham, Katrina Kaif and Neil Nitin Mukesh - and how their lives are turned upside down in New York. The film, produced by Aditya Chopra will release June 26.

Not far behind is Sajid Nadiadwala's "Kambakkht Ishq", a $20 million film co-produced by Sunil A. Lulla slated for July 10 release. The much-awaited caper will see Akshay Kumar playing a stuntman in Hollywood with Kareena Kapoor as his lady love. The highlight of the film is the presence of Hollywood stars Sylvester Stallone, Brandon Routh and Denise Richards.

After an action-packed film like "Kambakkht Ishq", audiences will get to see Saif Ali Khan's debut as a producer with "Love Aaj Kal", which is being helmed by "Jab We Met" director Imtiaz Ali. Saif has teamed up with Deepika Padukone in his home production which is set to release July 31. The film was originally slated to release in the first week of June.

Finally, a larger than life modern day adaptation of the evergreen Arabian Night's tale "Aladin" starring Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Riteish Deshmukh will hit the screens August 14. "Aladin" is produced by Eros International and Boundscript and directed by Sujoy Ghosh.

Other films that were due to release in May and June but were pushed back due to the strike are "Luck" starring southern superstar Kamal Haasan's daughter Shruti Haasan opposite Imraan Khan; Subhash Ghai's "Paying Guest"; Bipasha Basu-starrer "Pankh"; director Satish Kaushik's "Tere Sang" and "Phirr", among others. The release dates of these have not been disclosed as yet.

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