Aiyaary: Will It Help Sidharth Malhotra Break His Flop Streak At The Box Office

Now that the musical chairs for the release dates have stopped, Neeraj Pandey's Aiyaary will finally release this Friday on 16th February 2018. The film is a political thriller and is based on true events when numerous scams in the defence sector rocked the nation. Manoj Bajpayee and Sidharth Malhotra star in the lead roles and the film also stars Rakul Preet Singh, Adil Hussain, Kumud Mishra, Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher in the lead roles.

The film was earlier supposed to release on 25th of January and was going to clash with PadMan but later moved its date to 9th of February where it again seemed to clash with PadMan (which shifted its release date in order to accommodate Padmaavat). The film finally blocked 16th February as its release date and all eyes are set on the film and how it performs. Here are 5 expectations from the film:

Neeraj Pandey's 5th consecutive hit: The director has made 4 films to date and all 4 have been successful at the box-office. He has directed films like A Wednesday, Special 26, Baby and MS Dhoni-The Untold Story which been declared a hit at the box-office. 

Sidharth Malhotra's first hit after 3 consecutive flops: Sidharth Malhotra will hope to end his dry spell at the box-office with this political thriller. He plays an army officer named Jai Bakshi who goes rogue and is now hunted by his mentor Col. Abhay Singh (Manoj Bajpayee). His last 3 films Ittefaq, A Gentleman and Baar Baar Dekho have tanked at the box-office.

Rakul Preet Singh's comeback: She made her Bollywood debut with Yaariyan in 2014 which was a hit at the box-office. She, later on, built a successful career in the South by starring in Tamil & Telegu language films. Aiyaary is her comeback in Bollywood after 4 years.

PadMan effect: The Akshay Kumar starrer hasn't exactly set the box-office on fire as it was supposed to and it means Aiyaary will not be affected much by PadMan. The film has a clear week ahead of it and if the reviews are favourable, it can capitalize on strong word of mouth. 

Neera Pandey's & Sidharth Malhotra's 2nd 100 Crore film: Sidharth's only entry to the 100 Crore club is Mohit Suri's Ek Villain which was released in 2014 while Neeraj Pandey's MS Dhoni-The Untold Story earned 133 Crores in India.