Sooryavanshi may have come out as the biggest box-office success of 2021, but it has arrived to the scene with it’s share of controversies.
Despite it’s glowing success at the ticket counter, the film’s screening has been stopped in some places in the state of Punjab by support groups and organizations of the ongoing farmer’s protests against the central government.
Activists of the Bharti Kisan Union (Kadian) led a march against the screening of the film, as they were not happy with Akshay’s silence on the matter of Farmer’s protests.
The demonstrators also tore posters of the film, as they stated that they will not allow screening of any Akshay Kumar movie, until the farm laws are repealed by the center.
The screening was thereby stopped in Swaran cinema of Punjab.
The connection between Farmer’s laws/the central government and actor Akshay Kumar, is sort of ambiguous and left in speculation. But the social media hashtags against the film have exemplified why the actor’s film-release has been given a political color. (As he’s been often associated with right-wing ideology)
Previously, actress Kangana Ranaut’s film ‘Thalaivi’ had faced similar fate, when it was ‘down-rated’ on IMDB by supporters of the Farmer’s Protest, leading a decline on the film’s average ratings on the site. Campaigns run on social media, led the film to suffer due to bad word of mouth. However, it still became a success on OTT platforms.
Thankfully for Akshay, Sooryavanshi has been a major success across the country – in spite it all, giving a groundbreaking opening of Rs 25 crores, despite running on 50 percent occupancy in many states.