Close on the heels of reports that Shah Rukh Khan’s Dilwale may be clashing with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bajirao Mastani this Christmas, comes the news of imminent face-off between the former's next, Raees, with Salman's Sultan next year on Eid.
A source close to the development -- which could spell disaster at the box office -- believes Yashraj Films is responsible for this unnecessary clash.
“What Aditya Chopra has done is very unethical. Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar, the producers of Raees, announced Eid as the release date for their film three months ago.
“There was no Eid release lined up for Salman in 2016. Ritesh had repeatedly made sure to verify that.
“He had even reached out to Yashraj Films about the possibility of Sultan being released for Eid in 2016 and had been assured there was nothing of that sort in the offing,” the source says.
Many believe that YRF decided to release Sultan on Eid 2016 after Salman’s court cases went in his favour earlier in May this year.
“Salman had warned Aditya Chopra he won’t start Sultan until the court verdict in the 2002 hit-and-run case. Now that he has been given reprieve he has green-lighted Sultan and will shoot for it on a war footing,” says a close friend of the actor.
Appalled by the unscheduled development, Ritesh Sidhwani tweeted, 'We had announced in February that we will be releasing our film on EID 2016 & we are on schedule to release it as planned #RaeesOnEid2016.
Are we all to gear up for box office showdown of the century?
Watch this space for more.
