A perfect film at a perfect time, that's what we can call this Akshay Kumar venture Mission Mangal that is slated to release on India's 73rd Independence Day August 15. The film releases within a month of India's Chandrayaan-2 mission (lunar exploration mission), which makes its timing even more fortuitous. The film is based on ISRO's 2013 Mangalyaan mission and it showcases the riveting journey of a bunch of enthusiastic scientists who made India's maiden Mars mission a success. India triumphantly launched the Mars orbiter satellite on November 5, 2013, that completed its assigned task on September 24, 2014, in its first attempt. Jagan Shakti-directed Mission Mangal takes inspiration from this momentous instance in Indian history.

The film is all set to clash with John Abraham's Batla House, yet another Bollywood movie based on true events. This would be the second John Abraham vs Akshay Kumar clash after last year's Independence Day releases Satyameva Jayate and Gold. Both films fared well at the box-office and Mission Mangal and Batla House are expected to do the same, this time with better box-office numbers. Movies This Week: John Abraham’s Batla House, Akshay Kumar’s Mission Mangal, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Independence Day Sees 3 Movies Based on True Events.

Mission Mangal is also clashing with Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood which is the Pulp Fiction fame filmmaker's ninth and second-last film. Inspired by true events, the film stars Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie. However, the acclaimed film won't hassle these Bollywood releases, as it opens with fewer screens. Moreover, the Akshay Kumar and Independence Day combination is a guaranteed hit formula for the makers in terms of commercial success.

Here's a fun fact -- Rustom (August 12th 2016), Toilet Ek Prem Katha (August 11th, 2017), Gold (August 15th, 2018) were all box-office hits. Akshay's last two films Gold and Kesari marched to the Rs 100 crores club easily. With Mission Mangal, there lies a possibility of yet another Independence Day hit, courtesy Akshay Kumar, in line. So, Before you book tickets for this multi-starrer, Here is everything you need to know about Mission Mangal. Akshay Kumar’s Mission Mangal or John Abraham’s Batla House: Check Out Which Film Is Leading in the Advance Booking Race

Cast

Mission Mangal features an ensemble cast with Akshay Kumar playing the lead role of scientist Rakesh Dhawan. It also stars Vidya Balan as Tara Shinde, Sonakshi Sinha as Eka Gandhi, Taapsee Pannu as Kritika Aggarwal, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Kritika's husband, Nithya Menen as Varsha Pillai, Kirti Kulhari as Neha Siddiqui and Sharman Joshi as Parmeshwar Naidu. The rest of the supporting cast includes H. G. Dattatreya, Sanjay Kapoor, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Dalip Tahil, Vikram Gokhale and Mohan Kapoor.

Story

Mission Mangal's IMDB synopsis read as follows: "Based on true events of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launching the Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan), making it the least expensive mission to Mars."

Trailer

Here is the Official Trailer of Mission Mangal

Budget

Speaking about the budget of Mission Mangal, Akshay Kumar spoke to the Republic, revealing that the movie was made with a Rs 32 crore budget, and was shot in 32 days. Which means, the film will be a super-hit if it grosses double (hit the Rs 64 crore mark). It might well achieve the "Blockbuster" tag if it crosses the Rs 100 crore mark.

Music

The makers of Mission Mangal has just released one song from the film. The song is titled "Dil Mein Mars Hai", is sung by Benny Dayal and Vibha Saraf, and is composed by Amit Trivedi.

Dil Mein Mars Hai - Mission Mangal

Box-Office Prediction

Akshay Kumar's last Independence day release Gold gave him his career-best first-day opening with Rs 25.25 crores. The only competition for the film is Akshay Kumar's last year box-office rival John Abraham with his action-thriller Batla House. Speaking about Mission Mangal, its Youtube trailer has a total of 1 million likes and 40 million views, which proves that there's enough buzz about the film. However, LatestLY predicts that Mission Mangal would not break Gold's and Kesari's opening day records and would gross around Rs 17 -20 crores following the Republic Day holiday release.

Movie Review

Mission Mangal reviews are not out yet. Latestly will update you with them once they are out. So do not forget to keep an eye on our website to catch our thoughts on the Akshay Kumar-Vidya Balan film.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 14, 2019 12:03 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).