John Abraham's 'Mumbai Saga' falls prey to piracy, leaked online
John Abraham and Emraan Hashmi-starrer gangster drama Mumbai Saga released across the country today and the first viewers have given it a thumbs up. While the initial comments would have drawn people to the theaters, the movie hit a roadblock when it was leaked online earlier. With Bollywood looking at a revival after last year's harsh lockdown, piracy will unsurprisingly prove detrimental.
Mumbai Saga is the first major Bollywood release to debut on the big screen after Roohi, which starred Janhvi Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao. Roohi had released last Thursday. Hours after its release, Mumbai Saga surfaced on notorious sites like Tamilrockers and movierulz, India.com reports. With the movie just one click away now, viewers might not rush to theaters, effectively impacting the overall collection.
Earlier, the makers had proudly said that Mumbai Saga is meant for a big-screen experience. This is precisely why they chose to not release the movie on OTT platforms last year when others took the route. "Let's be honest, it's a common industry notion that if an actor is not confident of a film, he dumps it on OTT," Abraham said recently.
Amid the piracy news, the one thing that might cheer the makers is the positive reviews. Movie critic Taran Adarsh called the movie an "action-packed entertainer with powerful dialogue." The film, which is set in the 1980-90s, traces the transformation of Bombay to Mumbai and everything that contributed toward it. Abraham plays the role of a gangster and Hashmi a cop in this Sanjay Gupta directorial.
Yesterday, Bombay High Court refused to stay the movie's release in response to a plea filed by gangster DK Rao, alias Ravi Bohra, and the relatives of underworld don Amar Naik and his brother Ashwin Naik. They claimed that the movie was being released without their consent. Dumping the plea, the High Court asked the petitioners, "Why have you come at the last minute?"
