Mission Mangal stars five actresses but still one of the posters of the film has Akshay Kumar occupying the major chunk when compared to the film's actresses. Sonakshi Sinha comments on him being the bigger face of the film...

Sonakshi Sinha is having quite a busy August this year. Even as her film Khandaani Shafakhana is still running in theatres, she's gearing up for the release of her next - Mission Mangal. The actress has been neck deep in promotions of the film which is based on India's Mars Orbiter Mission. 

Even though Mission Mangal stars five leading actresses, the content pieces from the film seem to suggest Akshay Kumar as the main force. In fact, one of the posters of the film had Akshay Kumar's face occupying the larger space while those of the ladies were all crammed up one after the other. While Akshay has repeatedly said in his interactions with the media, that Mission Mangal belongs to its leading ladies, the poster seemed to suggest otherwise to a few netizens. 

When Sonakshi was quizzed about Akshay being the bigger face than the others in the poster, the actress told Hindustan Times, "I also read this somewhere. To all of us, it was team work. Even while we were shooting, nobody was made to feel smaller than the other person, despite there being so many people. And the fact of the matter is that Akshay Kumar is the biggest star in the film! Someone had told me very long back (smiles) and this line has stuck in my head: Jo bikta hai, woh dikhta hai’. Today, if you see Akshay’s collections, he’s the highest selling star in the entire film, that is why (his face is bigger on the poster)."

Not just Sonakshi, her co-star Taapsee Pannu too seems to echo the same sentiment. She had also told the daily earlier, "It is great people notice that, also then those same people can do something about the collections of a female-driven film. Because Akshay Kumar will get the audience in the theatre, that is the hard fact. All of us are doing great work in our own capacities. But, he will still manage to get a bigger number, at the end of the day. We cannot run away from this reality."

Taapsee further shared, "Whatever issue happened with the poster, hope people realise it and do something about it rather than questioning the makers. The audience can change things by walking into theatres where women are at the forefront. Hopefully, in the future it shouldn't be about the gender, but whose films get the numbers. Eventually it is a business and about how much money your films can make."

Apart from Sonakshi Sinha and Taapsee Pannu, Mission Mangal also stars Nithya Menon, Vidya Balan and Kirti Kulhari. Directed by Jagan Shakti, the movie is all set to hit the theatres on August 15.