Release Amitabh Bachchan's Shoebite On OTT, Voices Grow Strong; After Big B's Plea, Ayushmann Khurrana, Anurag Kashyap Lobby For Film's Online Premiere

The release of Shoojit Sircar’s film Shoebite starring Amitabh Bachchan has been stalled for over a decade now. It had been stuck over a rights issue and the script for the film was based on an idea by Hollywood director M Night Shyamalan, who was reportedly making the same film with an American studio. Shoebite also stars Jimmy Shergill and Dia Mirza in important roles, and ever since Amitabh Bachchan’s Marathi film Ab Aani CD released online, fans demanded Shoebite’s release on OTT platforms. Ayushmann Khurrana and Anurag Kashyap also urged for the online release of Shoebite.

Amitabh Bachchan has repeatedly pleaded for Shoebite'srelease. Back in 2018, he had tweeted, “T 2753 - PLEASE .. PLEASE ... PLEASE .. Utv & Disney , or whoever else has it .. Warners , whoever .. JUST RELEASE THIS FILM .. !! lot of hard labour been put in ..don't KILL creativity !!” Now, Anurag Kashyap took to his Twitter handle and wrote, “Just thought of this great film I was shown on the edit machine @ShoojitSircar’s “SHOEBITE” . Can in times like these @RonnieScrewvala @SrBachchanall of them not work together to release it somewhere online …” Replying to this tweet, Ronnie Screwvala wrote, “Uday Shankar @foxstarhindi@StarMoviesIndiacan make it happen as it was a utv movie and rights with Fox and all of that is now owned by Disney @DisneyIndia....”

Ayushmann Khurrana had also earlier appealed for its release. In an interview with Film Companion, he said, “I have seen that film twice by the way in the edit and it is his best film till date. If it released, it is going to be India’s entry to Oscars or something like that. It’s so beautiful. I think somebody should release it right now.”

Shoojit Sircar, in an interview with Hindustan Times, had earlier said, “The American studio had given us the green signal, so we made the film. Till now, they haven’t made it, so they have to sort it out. I feel it’s an insult and disregard to creative people. You can’t disrespect an artiste like Mr Bachchan, who worked for two years on the film. Nothing has happened till now.”