Mumbai, Jan. 11: Stalled because of objections raised by an undertrial a day before its scheduled release in December 2005, docu-drama Black Friday, based on the 1993 Bombay blasts, will hit the marquee on February 9, producers of the film announced today.

Produced by Mid-day Multimedia Ltd and distributed by Manmohan Shetty’s Adlabs, the critically-acclaimed film will get a global release.

Sunir Kheterpal of Adlabs Films Ltd said: “Black Friday is a bold and brave story that is waiting to be told to the Indian public and we are very happy to be facilitating its release on the scale and the platform that a film like Black Friday truly deserves.”

Directed by Anurag Kashyap, Black Friday is based on a book of the same name by journalist S. Hussain Zaidi. The book is based on the police investigation into the 1993 blasts.

The film features Kay Kay Menon, Pawan Malhotra and Aditya Srivastava playing inspector Rakesh Maria, Tiger Memon and approver “Badshah Khan” respectively. Indian Ocean has scored the music.

Its release on December 29, 2005, was stalled as blasts accused Mushtaq Moosa Tarani moved a petition in Bombay High Court contending that the film, based on the book Black Friday — the true story of the Bombay blasts — gave the perception that it was the authentic version of the events of March 12, 1993.

The petition said the final verdict in the trial was not out yet, and demanded the film not be released till the anti-terror court pronounces its verdict. Bombay High Court upheld Tarani’s objections, and subsequently, in March 2006, the Supreme Court directed the film not be released till the final verdict.

In December 2006, anti-terror judge Pramod Kode completed his verdict and pronounced 100 accused, including Tarani, guilty.

“I am obviously happy to see the film release on February 9. We have to recover the losses and costs of the legal bills incurred due to the delay in the release. I would be relieved when the film actually releases,” producer Arindam Mitra said.

Asked if he had incorporated the court verdict in the film or changed any content, Mitra said: “The film’s story deals with police investigation and ends before the beginning of the Tada court trial. So, we have not changed or added anything to the film.”

Black Friday has received a lot of critical acclaim at film festivals abroad. It was nominated at the Locarno International Film Festival and screened at film festivals in Germany, Estonia, South Korea and the US. It won the Golden Leopard for the Best Film at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles in 2005 competing with other entries like the Oscar-nominated Shwaas, national-award-winner Page 3 and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black.

The release of Black Friday will break the big jinx for writer-director Anurag Kashyap, who has directed several acclaimed films, but none of his films have been released. In fact, 2007 is likely to see the release of all of Kashyap’s stalled films including Paanch, Gulal, and his under production film, No Smoking starring John Abraham. He was unavailable for comment.