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August 12 will see Akshay Kumar and Hrithik Roshan clash in theatres worldwide with the release of their two period dramas - Rustom and Mohenjo Daro respectively. Both stars have been showing some great camaraderie online and promoting each other’s films, but come on... the race for the biggest opening at the box-office is inevitable.
So what’s the anticipation like online for both these films?
1. Most Awaited Film Buzz
In terms of the ‘most anticipated film’ buzz, Akshay Kumar’s Rustom had a good start, having made it to the list of top 5 most awaited films list in a survey back in May.
Akshay’s film was in contention with Salman Khan’s Sultan, Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees, Aamir Khan’s Dangal and the MS Dhoni bio-pic. That if anything was surely a good sign.
2. Trailer Talk
The recent data compiled by Indicine on Bollywood trailers shows some interesting trends. Rutom is the most watched trailer at number 5 on the list with over 13,692,306 views compared to Mohenjo Daro, which comes just below with over 12, 944, 451 views. But what’s revealing is that while the Akshay-starrer scored 3,467 dislikes, the Hrithik-starrer notched up over 13,000 dislikes.
3. Bollywood Ki Backing
In this face-off between Akshay and Hrithik, guess who box-office ka Sultan, Salman Khan is rooting for?
Yes, Salman just gave his blessings to Akshay Kumar, his co-star from Mujhse Shaadi Karogi. Usually Salman just posts a text message to promote a friend’s film but this time, he’s gone ahead and done a whole stand-up video. Akshay must be special!
But it’s not just Salman, even the younger lot like Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, who have immense clout and influence online, have gone out of their way to promote Rustom. While Ranveer did this ‘Chupa Rustom’ gag:
Alia paid a tribute to Akshay’s iconic rain song with Raveena via this video:
4. Most Loved Star
What’s more, this month Akshay Kumar has raced ahead of Shah Rukh Khan to claim the second spot in this survey that lists ‘Stars India Loves’. Salman Khan stays put at the top while Hrithik too remains at the fourth spot, where he was last month. Advantage Akshay again.
5. KRK’s Poll
Last but not the least, how can we miss out Kamaal R Khan’s weekly poll? KRK asked his followers on Twitter (he’s got over 1.2 million, mind you) which film they would watch in the theatre between Rustom and Mohenjo Daro. The poll got over 8,000 votes (which is huge by general Twitter poll standards) and Rustom emerged the winner hands down with 72% voting for Akshay’s film.
All things considered, it sure seems like Akshay Kumar’s Rustom is winning this battle over Hrithik Roshan’s Mohenjo Daro at the moment.
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