Did Simmba’s Box Office Success Give Karan Johar the Confidence to Release Sushant Singh Rajput and Jacqueline Fernandez’s Drive on the Big Screen?

The news may have been very hush hush, but the murmurs have been strong enough. There have been speculations going on that the movie Drive was having a troubled production. The film was produced by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions and Fox Star Studios, and was directed by Tarun Mansukhani of Dostana fame. Sushant Singh Rajput and Jacqueline Fernandez were the leads in the film that was supposed to start a franchise.  The shoot of the film has been completed months back. And above all, it was supposed to release last year. After Kedarnath, Is Sushant Singh Rajput's Drive in Trouble Too?

While there has been no official confirmation from the production house or the cast involved as such, sources close to the development claim that Karan Johar wasn't very happy with the final product and he wanted to push the release of the film as much as he can. There were even talks that the production house might dump the movie on a streaming service like Netflix. Even the actors don't talk much about the movie themselves, despite this being their first Dharma movie. Drive: Sushant Singh Rajput-Jacqueline Fernandez's Action Thriller in Trouble Over An Item Song? Read EXCLUSIVE Story on This!

However, now Dharma Productions have announced through their social media handles that Drive will be coming out on June 9 this year. That too on the big screen. This might put the detractors on silence and bring cheers to both Sushant and Jacqueline's fan camps. Though, we believe there has been a push for this move by the success of another Dharma movie. Jacqueline Fernandez and Sushant Singh Rajput's Drive to Release on June 28, 2019 - Read Details.

Simmba, that was directed by Rohit Shetty, has become a smash hit and has made Ranveer Singh a masala hero. Simmba was Dharma's first proper masala movie and the success of the film has eclipsed the bigger film that came out a week before, Shah Rukh Khan's Zero. This happened, despite the fact that Simmba has been met with mixed reviews. What's more, the social media movie influencers and trade experts are in awe of Karan Johar's marketing strategies. Simmba Box Office Collection Day 5: Ranveer Singh and Rohit Shetty Score Their Fourth and Eighth Rs 100 Crore Grosser Respectively.

So has the confidence given by the success of Simmba driven Karan Johar to give Drive the big screen treatment? Or is that the rumours are just bull and Drive's postponed release happened because of extensive post-production work? Guess, we will only know when the movie releases on June 9.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 03, 2019 07:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).