Disney+ Hotstar’s Cuttputlli stars Akshay Kumar and Rakul Preet Singh

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Join Arjan Sethi a.k.a. Akshay Kumar’s quest to find a serial killer in a spellbinding thriller produced by Vashu Bhagnani, Jackky Bhagnani and Deepshikha Deshmukh for Pooja Entertainment: Cuttputlli.

A small-town cop is in pursuit of the person behind serial killings plaguing the quaint hilly town of Kasauli. Will he be able to catch the criminal before he strikes again? Akshay Kumar joins forces with Rakul Preet Singh, Sargun Mehta and Chandrachur Singh to take audiences on a journey of an investigative cop as he uses his passion and knowledge to unearth a series of wrongdoings.

The trailer of the movie was launched at Mumbai’s The Grand Hyatt Aug. 20 with a special Cuttputlli act by Akshay Kumar, playing a puppet pulled in different directions at once. The film will be released exclusively on Disney+ Hotstar on September 2 and will be available to all platform subscribers. For fans in the US, Cuttputlli will stream exclusively on Hulu.

Akshay Kumar plays Arjan Sethi, a dutiful sub-inspector, who took an oath to keep the people of Kasauli safe. However, fate has other plans as the killer strikes from the shadows of terror, leaving behind no trace of evidence, except a body. Intrigued by the recurring pattern of the murders, Sethi embarks on a thrilling rollercoaster ride where he seeks to find the link between the murders and the face behind them.

During his investigations, the murderer’s presence rings closer to home as his life, family and love face the killer’s ire in a twisted turn of fate. In this race-against-time whodunit thriller, unlocking the mind of a murderer is the only key to unmasking his identity and motive. But can Arjun Sethi rise to the task?

Produced by Vashu Bhagnani, Jackky Bhagnani and Deepshikha Deshmukh for Pooja Entertainment and directed by Ranjit M. Tewari, Cuttputlli unmasks the killer and decodes the mystery using Arjan’s skills to understand the psyche of the murderer.

Akshay Kumar said, “Set once upon a time in Kasauli amidst the backdrop of nature’s beauty, the film unveils incidents of ugly killings. It’s filled with enthralling twists and turns. I play an underdog investigation officer, Arjan Sethi, who is on a trail to catch the psychopath killer whose motives are unpredictable and unclear. Here, revenge is an illusion and the last act of the movie is unthinkable and will take you by total surprise – and that’s what makes it unique! Get ready for the kill, multiple chills and even more thrills! Director Ranjit has done a brilliant job of narrating this thriller in a unique style …so cut some time from your busy schedule and watch Cuttputlli on Disney + Hotstar.”

Director Ranjit M. Tewari added, “Being given an opportunity to collaborate with Akshay- sir for the second time after BellBottom was extremely humbling and exciting. I was attracted to Cuttputlli because the work of our police forces always intrigued me. I wanted our audiences to visually experience the mental acumen and perseverance along with the physical handwork that goes into solving a case. The experience of shooting through the second lockdown was made much easier by Vashu-ji, Jackky, Deepshikha and the entire team that lent me their unwavering support and trust. Every team member has worked relentlessly to get into the skin of their characters.”

(Interestingly, Ranjit’s BellBottom was the first big film in the whole world to be launched and completed during the lockdown and released last August in movie halls amidst partial lockdown in some states.)

The event also saw a unique opportunity for the media to win a hamper from the OTT channel and a cash prize of Rs. 50,000 from Pooja Entertainment. There were three huge mountings of press reports and pictures of notorious serial killers worldwide. The six contestants selected by Akshay had to pick up slips mentioning one of the killers’ names and find it on the three mounts within 60 seconds.

Some sources place this film as a remake of the Tamil thriller Ratsasan with some significant changes. When this correspondent asked Akshay whether this was the same film for which he was already shooting in London when he spoke to the media on Skype on the day of teh BellBottom  press screening (held in Surat as Mumbai’s movie halls had not yet opened!) in August 2021, Akshay stated that this was a different subject and he was not doing that film, which would have been an espionage thriller, with the same producers and director. He added that Cuttputlli was a new thriller genre for him, though he had done some different thrillers like Khiladi in 1992.

Akshay addressed the issue of multiple big and small Hindi films failing at the box- office and said that he would like to understand the audience. “If films are not working, it is our fault. It is my fault. I have to make the changes. I have to understand what the audience wants. I have to dismantle my ways and think of what kind of films I should do. Nobody else is to be blamed.” Akshay’s newest films, Bachchan Pandey and Raksha Bandhan, have flopped recently.

However, Gaurav Banerjee, Head-Content, Disney+ Hotstar & HSM Entertainment Network, Disney Star, who was present, stated that Akshay’s OTT releases, Laxmii and Atrangi Re, had done well on his platform. “Laxmii was the first big film to have an OTT release and it was Akshay’s idea,” he told the audience. “The OTT release of Cuttputlli was also designed as per Akshay’s plan to have a great thriller made for a non-theatrical release. Thrillers have been a popular genre for us, like with Ajay Devgn’s Rudra—The Edge of Darkness. We are the first to have released such a big film as Laxmii directly on the web, and we are now having stars like Ajay, Akshay and now Kajol doing projects for us.”

Producer Deepshikha Deshmukh, Gaurav Banerjee, Head-Content, Disney+ Hotstar & HSM Entertainment Network, Disney Star, director Ranjit M. Tewari, Akshay Kumar, Rakul Preet Singh, producer Jackky Bhagnani, Sargun Mehta and Chandrachud Singh at the trailer launch of Cuttputlli.