'Gold' becomes first Bollywood film to release in Saudi Arabia

Akshay Kumar-fronted sports drama Gold has become the first Bollywood film ever to release in Saudi Arabia.

The Reema Kagti-directed film is only the second movie after Rajinikanth's hit social drama, Kaala, to hit the theatres in the Gulf country.

Akshay today took to Twitter to share the news. "The story of India's first Gold medal victory for the first time in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Happy to share, #Gold is the first ever Bollywood movie to release in the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, in cinemas from today! @excelmovies @ZeeStudiosInt," he wrote.

The story of India’s first Gold medal victory for the first time in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Happy to share, #Gold is the first ever Bollywood movie to release in the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, in cinemas from today! @excelmovies @ZeeStudiosInt

— Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) August 30, 2018

Gold, a sports drama about a fictitious Indian hockey teams first gold medal win at the Olympics in 1948, marks Akshay’s eighth consecutive success. Prior to it, the actor had delivered hits such as Pad Man (Rs 78.22 crore), Toilet Ek Prem Katha, Jolly LLB 2 (Rs 117 crore), Rustom (Rs 127.49 crore), Housefull 3 (Rs 109.14 crore), Airlift (Rs 128.1 crore) and Singh Is Bliing (Rs 89.95 crore).

Also featuring Mouni Roy, Amit Sadh, Kunal Kapoor and Vineet Kumar Singh, the film released on August 15.

In May, Saudi Arabia held a private screening of international cultural phenomenon, Black Panther to herald the launch of movie theatres, open to the public, in the kingdom.