Fauzi vs Akshay Kumar Anees Bazmee Film: The Clash Is Off
Remember the big December face-off? Prabhas on 3 December, Akshay Kumar a day later, and everyone already counting screens. Forget it. The Fauzi vs Akshay Kumar Anees Bazmee film clash is officially dead. As of 10 November 2026, only one of these two movies still lands this year.
Fauzi now opens on 19 March 2027. Akshay’s untitled family comedy holds 4 December 2026, which is now less than four weeks away.
So who actually wins? What does Akshay’s film face instead? And which one deserves your ticket money? Chaliye, let’s sort it out.
The clash that isn’t: how Fauzi left December
Fauzi’s release date has had a very busy autumn. Here’s the timeline:
- Original date: 3 December 2026.
- 22 September: Mythri Movie Makers’ Y Ravi Shankar confirmed the delay at The Paradise launch event. He gave no new date, and reports pointed to late January or early February 2027.
- 8 October: Gulte reported, citing sources, that the team was eyeing 18 March 2027.
- 24 October: Director Hanu Raghavapudi’s post read “In Cinemas March 19th 2027”, alongside a teaser that dropped on Prabhas’s birthday (Telangana Today).
So the rumour missed by exactly one day. Not bad, Gulte.
Ravi Shankar didn’t sound too apologetic about it. He offered “a small sorry that we are pushing it back a bit,” then went straight into hype mode: “You haven’t seen brother Prabhas look so grand since Baahubali” (Pinkvilla). He also called it “a next-level movie.” Producer talk, sure. But he clearly thinks the wait will pay off.
Why the delay? Hollywood Reporter India pinned it on post-production, VFX and the period recreation. Gulte’s October report added that the shoot wasn’t done either. The team was still filming the interval sequence. It also had a longer schedule lined up from roughly 15 November to 15 December for the climax and other pending portions.
A film still shooting its climax in mid-December was never making a 3 December release. Simple maths.
Fauzi vs Akshay Kumar Anees Bazmee film: head-to-head table
Even without a clash, these two sit at opposite ends of what Indian cinema sells. Here’s how they stack up, as of 10 November 2026.
| Criteria | Fauzi | Akshay Kumar–Anees Bazmee film |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Period action drama, British Raj backdrop | Family comedy-drama |
| Lead | Prabhas, playing a soldier | Akshay Kumar, with Vidya Balan and Raashii Khanna |
| Director | Hanu Raghavapudi (Sita Ramam) | Anees Bazmee |
| Banner | Mythri Movie Makers, presented by T-Series Films | Sri Venkateswara Creations (Dil Raju), with Cape of Good Films |
| Supporting cast | Imanvi (acting debut), Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Bhanu Chander, Jayapradha | Vijay Raaz, Sudesh Lehri, Rajpal Yadav (per reports) |
| Music | Vishal Chandrasekhar | Not named in the reports we checked |
| Reach | Telugu-origin, pan-India, “multiple languages” | Hindi |
| Release date | 19 March 2027, worldwide | 4 December 2026, worldwide |
| Date status | Official since 24 October | Official since May, no fresh update found |
| Title | Locked | Still untitled |
Two things jump out. Fauzi has the bigger canvas and the bigger star, no contest. But Akshay’s film holds the one thing Fauzi lost: a date in 2026.
The title situation is a bit of a comedy in itself. In September, Akshay replied to birthday wishes from Raashii Khanna, Vidya Balan and Bazmee with what looked like a hint: “Maujah Hi Maujah.” NewKerala read it as a possible title reveal. Nobody has announced it, though. Treat it as a guess, not a fact.
Period action vs family comedy: who was better placed?
Honestly? Neither film needed this fight.
Fauzi is the classic pan-India event film. You get Prabhas as a soldier, a British Raj setting, the Sita Ramam director and a T-Series presentation. (New to the term? Here’s what a pan-India film actually means.) Its audience books on day one because it’s a Prabhas film. Full stop.
Akshay’s film plays a different game. Think big ensemble, Vidya Balan and Raashii Khanna up front, and Vijay Raaz and Sudesh Lehri on the comic bench. That’s a crowd that comes in groups, and comes back on the second weekend if the jokes land.
So a 3 and 4 December release would have split screens more than audiences. But screens are the real currency in a clash week. A Prabhas biggie would have grabbed a huge chunk of them, and the comedy would have paid for it.
On paper, Fauzi was better placed. In reality, Akshay wins this round, because he’s the one still showing up.
What Akshay’s December 4 film faces now
With Fauzi gone, the Akshay Kumar Anees Bazmee film walks into a far friendlier calendar. Sacnilk’s December list, updated on 14 October, looks like this:
- 4 December: Eetha (listed as Hindi) and Vrushakarma (Telugu)
- 18 December: Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three
- 24 December: King (Hindi), Dada (NBK111, Telugu) and King 100 (Telugu)
- 25 December: Jumanji: Open World
Odd detail: Sacnilk’s table doesn’t list Akshay’s comedy at all. Read that as a gap in their list, not a sign of a date shift. The production house’s own X post said “IN CINEMAS WORLDWIDE – DECEMBER 4th, 2026”, and Bollywood Hungama confirmed the date and cast back in May.
And the films that once crowded this weekend?
- Ranger (Ajay Devgn): reportedly moved from 4 December to 2027, per Variety India via Free Press Journal in August. There’s no official new date, and we couldn’t verify where it stands now.
- Golmaal 5: no official date, despite the August chatter about an “Akshay Kumar vs Akshay Kumar” December.
Here’s our read. Akshay shares opening day with Eetha and Vrushakarma. Then he gets about two weeks before Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three arrive on 18 December. Shah Rukh Khan’s King follows on 24 December, and we’ve already broken down how King vs Avengers: Doomsday could play out.
That’s our inference from the calendar, not a trade forecast. Still, two fairly open weeks is a gift for a family comedy that needs word of mouth to build.
One caveat. The 4 December date goes back to May. As of 5 November, we found no newer official confirmation and no teaser. With under four weeks to go, that silence feels a little odd. Keep an eye on it.
Verdict by reader type
- Prabhas fan: Block 19 March 2027. Fauzi is the only film here for you, and December has nothing that replaces it. Want the rest of his slate? Our Prabhas upcoming movies list has it.
- Family audience: Akshay’s film, easily. You get a full comic bench, Vidya Balan and Raashii Khanna in a family comedy, and a release week with no Prabhas wave eating up the shows.
- Hindi-belt multiplex regular: Catch Akshay on 4 December. Then save some budget, because 18 and 24 December get crowded fast.
- Hollywood-first viewer: Neither, really. Your December starts on the 18th.
- Wait-for-OTT type: The Akshay film reaches your couch first by a mile. Fauzi hasn’t even hit theatres, so that wait runs deep into 2027.
Our take: who really wins December?
Paisa vasool verdict on the Fauzi vs Akshay Kumar Anees Bazmee film saga? This delay probably helps both of them. Fauzi gets time to finish a climax that, per Gulte, sits on a shoot schedule running into mid-December. Akshay gets the first fortnight of December without a Prabhas tsunami to fight.
The bigger question now sits with the Akshay camp. A family comedy opening in under four weeks still has no title and no teaser. If that doesn’t change soon, the clean runway won’t matter much.
So, tell us: is a 4 December family comedy your first big-screen outing this season, or are you saving it all for March?