Raksha Bandhan (film)

In Old Delhi, Lala Kedarnath, the eldest and only brother of four sisters named Gayatri, Durga, Laxmi, and Saraswati, runs a chaat shop named Premlata Chat Bhandar, that was started by his grandfather, which now he runs along with his loyal helper, Gaffar. Lala promises his frail mother on her deathbed that he will only get married after he fulfills the responsibility of marrying his sisters into suitable homes first. Lala's relentless efforts to get his sisters married while upholding his family values go in vain, as he faces hurdles in finding suitable grooms due to Laxmi's dark skin, Durga's weight, and Saraswati's masculine behaviour. At the same time, Lala's commitment to his sisters stands as a huge roadblock for his and, his childhood love, Sapna's relationship to take off.

Understanding the importance of Lala's vow, Sapna decides to wait until his goal is achieved. But her father, Harishankar, always nags her to get married. Sometime later, Lala manages to gather ₹18 lakh (US$21,000) for Gayatri's dowry. Gayatri gets married. After the marriage, it is revealed that Lala is not their real brother and that their mother adopted him long ago when his real mother died near the temple. Lala arranges money for Durga and Laxmi's wedding by selling his one kidney, but things did not go as planned. Gayatri's husband and in-laws were asking for more dowry, but she did not say anything to Lala as she did not want him to get more stressed. Gayatri commits suicide by drinking poison. Lala realizes the curse of the dowry system, and vows that he will make his other three sisters capable enough for their future so they can choose their own groom and marry without a dowry.

Lala breaks all ties with Sapna and asks her to marry the guy of her father's choice. But on Sapna's wedding day, Harishankar realises that she is still in love with Lala and asks her to break the alliance. Sapna breaks the marriage and decides to wait for Lala; her fiancé, Swapnil, later falls for Laxmi and marries her 12 years later. Durga completes her graduation and becomes a lawyer, where she gets Gayatri's husband punished by sending him to prison on charges of dowry. Later she marries her classmate. Saraswati becomes a cop and marries her colleague. At last, Lala marries Sapna at the age of 60 after fulfilling his mother's wish.

• Akshay Kumar as Lala Kedarnath Agarwal
• Bhumi Pednekar as Sapna Gupta
• Sadia Khateeb as Gayatri Agarwal–Mishra
• Deepika Khanna as Durga Agarwal
• Smrithi Srikanth as Laxmi Agarwal–Verma
• Sahejmeen Kaur as Saraswati Agarwal
• Seema Pahwa as Shanoo Sharma
• Neeraj Sood as Harishankar Gupta
• Sahil Mehta as Gaffar
• Abhilash Thapliyal as Swapnil Verma
• Manu Rishi as Maternal Uncle
• Karan Puri as Sunil Mishra
• Salim Siddiqui as Neelu's Husband
• Bullet Prakash as Siddiqui (Uncredited)

The film was officially announced on 3 August 2020 to mark the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.^[9] Akshay Kumar stated that it is the quickest film he has signed in his career, and dedicated the film to his sister Alka Hiranandani who also serves as co-producer.^[10][11] Originally this film was scheduled to release on 13 December 2021.

Principal photography for the film commenced on 23 January 2021.^[12][13] In April 2021, K.U Mohanan replaced Anshuman Mahaley as a Cinematographer due to scheduling conflicts. First schedule ended in July 2021 at Mumbai.^[14] The film was wrapped up in Delhi in December 2021.^[15][16]

The songs were composed by Himesh Reshammiya while film score was composed and produced by Ishaan Chhabra. Irshad Kamil has written the lyrics.^[18] The first song of the album "Tere Sath Hoon Main", sung by Nihal Tauro was released on 29 June 2022.^[19] The second song "Kangan Ruby", sung by Reshammiya himself was released on 6 July 2022.^[20] The third song titled "Done Kar Do", sung by Navraj Hans was released on 18 July 2022 and it was the first song from an Indian film to have an international release, being launched in the UK.^[21] The fourth song "Dhaagon Se Baandhaa", sung by Shreya Ghoshal and Arijit Singh was released on 28 July 2022.^[22]

The cast of Raksha Bandhan was on a promotional spree, visiting different cities across India, ahead of its release. The team, including Akshay Kumar, Aanand L Rai, Sadia Khateeb, Smrithi Srikanth, Sahejmeen Kaur and Deepika Khanna, visited Dubai, Pune, Indore and Hyderabad.^[23] On 7 August 2022, the team of Raksha Bandhan film visited Hyderabad to attend a press conference at a multiplex. Akshay took his on-screen sisters to the famous MG Road at Durga Gold and Silver (Durga Jewellers),^[24] for some pearl shopping and continued the tradition of gifting.^[25]

Right wing Hindu nationalists started a Twitter campaign to boycott the film, the campaign was against the film's screenwriter Kanika Dhillon for her old allegedly anti-Hindu tweets with offensive references to gomutra and tweets where she had mocked the Modi government; these Tweets were later deleted.^[26]

The film was theatrically released on 11 August 2022, coinciding with Raksha Bandhan and Independence Day.^[7][27]

The digital streaming rights of the film were acquired by ZEE5. The film digitally was released on ZEE5 from 5 October 2022.^[28]