In a surprise announcement made by production house Nadiadwala and Grandsons Entertainment, Akshay Kumar is revealed to star in their next, Bachchan Pandey. The announcement was made with the first look of the actor in an interesting getup. Donning a moustache that harks back to his Rowdy Rathore days, Akshay Kumar goes bare-bodied in the poster with heavy gold chains on his neck and wearing a black veshti. Bachchan Pandey Poster: Akshay Kumar's New Look Is Quirky, Intriguing and Refreshing!

Bachchan Pandey is directed by Farhad Samji, who had worked with Akshay in Entertainment and Housefull 3, as well as the upcoming Housefull 4. There are speculations that Bachchan Pandey would be a remake of the Telugu film, Duvvada Jagannadham aka DJ, that has Allu Arjun in the lead. However, there is no official confirmation on whether Bachchan Pandey is a remake of DJ.

Another speculation going around is that Bachchan Pandey could be a spinoff based on a character Akshay Kumar had played in a forgotten action flick. This is quite interesting, though most possibly, not true!

In 2008, Akshay Kumar was a part of the Yash Raj Films project, Tashan. The action-comedy was directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya of Dhoom 3 and Thugs of Hindostan fame. Tashan also starred Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan, with Anil Kapoor playing the main antagonist. Tashan made a lot of news then for Kareena Kapoor's first stint in a bikini and her size-zero image.

The movie, however, failed to impress both the critics and fans, and tanked at the box office. One of the few positives of the film was Akshay Kumar's quirky performance as the daredevil henchman for the main villain, who turns hero later in the movie. And yeah, his character's name was Bachchan Pandey. Tashan even has a rousing chant of his name in the background whenever Bachchan Pandey gets into action mode.

There is no doubt that Bachchan Pandey won't be a spinoff of Tashan, as both the films belong to different production houses. YRF are quite protective of their properties. However, we aren't yet discounting the claims that Bachchan Pandey could be a remake of DJ just as yet. Watch this space for more details on the film.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 26, 2019 04:50 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).