MUMBAI: Film Stand By, which was slated to release on 19 August, has got pushed by a week. The reason behind it is the arrival of Lionel Mess. Stand By is a film that talks about politics in sports and has football as a backdrop. When the producers heard about the football player’s arrival to India, they thought of cashing on his name and the hype around football when he visits the country.

Director Sanjay Surkar said, “Messi is one of the most famous names in football and has huge fan following in India. The producer Prakashji thought it will a good idea to release the film around Messi’s arrival as our film has some real football for the game lovers.”

Messi arrives in Kolkata in end of August and the film will release on 26 August. Stand By stars Siddharth Kher and Adinath Kothari along with Sachin Khedekar, Avatar Gill and Manish Choudhary.