Akshay Kumar's ‘Gold’ becomes first Bollywood film to release in Saudi Arabia

NEW DELHI/RIYADH: In what is being termed as a historic moment for Indian films, the latest release ‘Gold’ has become the first Bollywood film ever to release in Saudi Arabia, says the lead actor of the flick.

Directed by Reema Kagti, Kumar’s new film is only the second movie after Rajinikanth’s hit social drama, Kaala, to hit the theatres in the Gulf country.

Akshay today took to Twitter to share the news. “The story of India’s first Gold medal victory for the first time in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Happy to share, #Gold is the first ever Bollywood movie to release in the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, in cinemas from today! @excelmovies @ZeeStudiosInt,” he wrote.

The story of India’s first Gold medal victory for the first time in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Happy to share, #Gold is the first ever Bollywood movie to release in the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, in cinemas from today! @excelmovies @ZeeStudiosInt

— Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) August 30, 2018

Gold, a sports drama about a fictitious Indian hockey teams first gold medal win at the Olympics in 1948, marks Akshay’s eighth consecutive success. Prior to it, the actor had delivered hits such as Pad Man (Rs 78.22 crore), Toilet Ek Prem Katha, Jolly LLB 2 (Rs 117 crore), Rustom (Rs 127.49 crore), Housefull 3 (Rs 109.14 crore), Airlift (Rs 128.1 crore) and Singh Is Bliing (Rs 89.95 crore).

Also featuring Mouni Roy, Amit Sadh, Kunal Kapoor and Vineet Kumar Singh, the film released on August 15.

Saudi Arabia in May this year unveiled its first cinema in over 35 years with a private screening of the blockbuster “Black Panther”, the first in a series of trial runs before movie theatres open to the wider public.

The invitation-only gala event had come after the kingdom lifted the ban on cinemas last year as part of a far-reaching liberalisation drive, with US giant AMC Entertainment granted the first licence to operate movie theatres.

Religious hardliners, who have long vilified movie theatres as vulgar and sinful, were instrumental in shutting them down in the 1980s.