Baadshaho, Kaabil and Raees: The fight for 26th January 2017 intensifies

For a film that looked immensely promising from its teaser, the utter mess that Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Raees’ finds itself in, is unfortunate to say the least. The official announcement of ‘Raees’ releasing on 26th January 2017, has resulted in an all out attack against Ritesh Sidhwani and the makers of the Rahul Dholakia film.

Baadshaho director Milan Luthria has released a statement confirming that his film will come on the same date. He said “We are on schedule and we were the first ones to announce the release date. We will not be shifting our release date”

Meanwhile, Rakesh Roshan is upset with the announcement too. While there were reports that Shah Rukh called up both Rakesh and Hrithik to discuss the date, the senior Roshan denied the news. But added that his film won’t move from 26th January.

“No one approached me, my release date was announced in February this year for 26th January 2017 and I am sticking to it. Who comes or who doesn’t is not my problem” Rakesh was quoted as saying by Deccan Chronicle.

In our article titled ‘Best Release Date for Raees’, which was published more than 2 weeks ago, we had said “the new date shouldn’t end up in yet another clash”.

To avert one clash, the think-tanks at Excel Entertainment and Red Chillies Entertainment have opted for a date that was already occupied by films featuring two major stars – Hrithik Roshan’s Kaabil and Ajay Devgn’s Baadshaho.

Both films are well on schedule to release in January next year. The pre-production work of Baadshaho has already begun and the film will go on floors as soon as Ajay is done with his directorial venture ‘Shivaay’.

Rakesh Roshan has already released a digital poster to slam the release of ‘Kaabil’.

Few questions for the Raees makers:

1. If two films can’t release on a major weekend like Eid, a period during which Bajrangi Bhaijaan collected Rs 321 crore at the domestic box office. Does it make even an iota of business sense to announce a big film like ‘Raees’ with two other major films during the Republic Day weekend – the period during which the highest grosser has only collected Rs 128 crore?
2. The makers of ‘Raees’ simply cannot afford to postpone the film again - moving out of the Eid weekend has caused enough embarrassment already. So why didn’t you internally discuss, sort out the dates before releasing the press statement?
3. Are you going to release a film 2 years after the teaser was out? Will the audience be excited?