Thirteen years ago, a promo of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s romantic drama Saawariya showed Ranbir Kapoor croon ‘Yoon Shabnami‘ for Sonam K Ahuja on Eid. As he pointed towards the skies, a dozen men, dressed impeccably in spotless white kurtas, sang in chorus, “Dekho chand aaya… chand nazar aaya.” The subsequent crescendo in the qawwali then cut to a shot of Salman Khan emerging from the shadows, announcing his arrival.

Eid without Salman Khan: With no ritualistic film release on the festival, even Bhai can’t beat the virus

Thirteen years ago, a promo of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s romantic drama Saawariya showed Ranbir Kapoor croon ‘Yoon Shabnami‘ for Sonam K Ahuja on Eid. As he pointed towards the skies, a dozen men, dressed impeccably in spotless white kurtas, sang in chorus, “Dekho chand aaya… chand nazar aaya.” The subsequent crescendo in the qawwali then cut to a shot of Salman Khan emerging from the shadows, announcing his arrival.

Ever since, Salman has unfailingly appeared on our screens every Eid in similar grand fashion. He has been synonymous with the Eid ka chaand. Not metaphorically, but by the virtue of his indispensability . He has also had releases on other festivals like Christmas (Tiger Zinda Hai) and Diwali (Prem Ratan Dhan Payo), but Eid and Salman come in a package now.

This year, Salman was scheduled to reunite with his Saawariya and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam director Bhansali for Insha-allah, a romantic drama opposite Alia Bhatt. It was slotted as Salman’s big-ticket Eid 2020 release but the actor opted out of the film late last year, after creative differences with the filmmaker.

Bhai fans wondered, “But can there be Eid without Salman Khan?”

After Salman promised he would still make it to Eid 2020, there was speculation about whether he would churn out either Dabangg 4, Race 4, Tiger 3 or Kick 2. And then he announced Radhe: India’s Most Wanted. The title worked at various levels since Salman is “the most wanted” on Eid. It is also a spiritual sequel to his 2009 blockbuster Wanted, that both resurrected his stardom and kicked off the ritual of an annual Bhai release on Eid.

For Radhe, he has reunited with yet another director of immense importance in his career. Prabhu Deva directed both Wanted and Dabangg3 that released last year at the same time Salman exited Insha-allah. He assembled Prabhu from Dabangg 3, Disha Patani and Jackie Shroff from Bharat (the Eid release last year), and Randeep Hooda from Kick, and voila! Radhe is ready to be served.