Radhe was originally scheduled to release theatrically on 22 May 2020, but was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
[4] Though Radhe received highly negative reviews from critics and audiences alike, who criticized the story, screenplay, direction, unoriginality, chemistry and VFX, with 4.2 million views, it became the most watched OTT film on the day of its release.
Mumbai Police sends two senior officers to stop Rana but they are heavily drugged and killed.
Radhe seeks the help of school students, they accept and start taking photos of Rana's gang and the people they supply drugs to.
In September 2019, media reports speculated that Prabhu Deva will direct Salman Khan's next project after completing Dabangg 3 and the film will be released on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr (22 May 2020; the date at which Khan's shelved film Inshallah was speculated to release).
[25][26][27] On 18 October 2019, Salman Khan revealed the film's title as Radhe through the motion poster of Dabangg 3; also confirming it to be a 2020 Eid release.
[28][29] Disha Patani, Randeep Hooda and Jackie Shroff were cast in pivotal roles, the former in her second collaboration with Khan after Bharat.
[42] The shooting of the film was supposed to wrap up by 21 February 2020,[43] but the makers planned another schedule in Thailand, which was then cancelled by the COVID-19 outbreak.
[49] The film's soundtrack is composed by Sajid–Wajid, Devi Sri Prasad and Himesh Reshammiya,[51] with lyrics being written by Shabbir Ahmed, Sajid Khan and Kunaal Vermaa.
Radhe is the posthumous work of Wajid Khan (of the Sajid–Wajid duo) and the title track was his last composition before his death in June 2020.
[53] Prasad recreated his song "Seeti Maar" from the Telugu film DJ: Duvvada Jagannadham (2017).
[57] On 21 April 2021, Khan further announced that the film will be released in all operational theatres,[58] and on pay-per-view and digital streaming methods by Zee Plex and ZEE5.
[62][60] Advanced bookings for the film in the Middle East regions (United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain) began on 29 April 2021, two weeks before the release schedule.
[63] Khan, in a video-call interaction, apologised to the theatre owners for the poor collection of the film due to a limited theatrical release.
[69][70] Furthermore, ZEE5 announced a Radhe Combo, a package priced at ₹499 allowing users to watch the film and access contents of the platform for one year.
[72] Khan and Zee Studios announced that the revenues of the film will be donated to COVID-19 relief funds.
[82] Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost gave Radhe a rating of 0/5 and wrote "This film is so generic that it would be a challenge to write down the plot from A-Z after a single viewing.
Salman Khan's performance reiterates the fact that he is not looking at gaining any validation from the audiences taking them for granted".
Calling it a "cringefest" she wrote, "Radhe is a loud, senseless and offensive film that has little regard for women, the police force and the audience's intelligence in general".
She further stated, "Radhe is frustratingly tone deaf to how it promotes police brutality and the almost suffocating toxic masculinity that is sprayed on like a cheap deodorant".
[85] Soumya Srivastava from The Hindustan Times called Radhe a torture of a film and one of Khan's worst movies.
[87] Trade analyst Taran Adarsh gave Radhe a rating of 2/5 and called it "Disappointing".
Calling its screenplay and writing "lackluster" he wrote, "Radhe doesn't meet the sky-high expectations, The film has a clichéd plot and a predictable formula remodelled with new packaging".
[89] Namrata Joshi from The National Herald wrote, "Radhe is an empty vessel of a film that tries to sail through by making a lot of loud noise that signifies nothing".
[90] Sushri Sahu of Mashable criticised Radhe for glorifying police brutality, gun violence and toxic masculinity.