Mumbai — Eid 2016 will see an almighty collision at the box office with two Khans facing off — Shah Rukh’s Raees versus Salman’s Sultan.
Salman Khan, who usually has his films released on Eid, will continue the trend this year with much-anticipated Bajrangi Bhaijaan and next year with Sultan under the Yash Raj Films banner.
Earlier, Raees producer Ritesh Sidhwani announced on Twitter that his film starring Shah Rukh and Pakistani actress Mahira Khan will release on Eid 2016. Recently, Yash Raj Productions revealed the release date of Sultan starring Salman with a short teaser.
“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,” producer Ritesh Sidhwani said.
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
— Ritesh Sidhwani (@ritesh_sid) June 24, 2015
“Drop EVERYTHING: @BeingSalmanKhan In & As SULTAN #SultanEid2016,” YRF tweeted.
Drop EVERYTHING: @BeingSalmanKhan In & As SULTAN #SultanEid2016https://t.co/GECTgz0x6Y #YRFBuzz
— Yash Raj Films (@yrf) June 23, 2015
While everyone is looking forward to this clash of titans, it would be best if this battle is averted because whenever two big banner films clash at the box office, they end up eating into each other’s business. And that’s something no filmmaker wants.
Filming for Sultan begins in November once Salman’s Prem Ratan Dhan Payo opens in Diwali. Reportedly, Salman plays the title role of a wrestler in the action drama. Rumours over the past months have tossed names such as Deepika Padukone and Jacqueline Fernandez as the film’s heroine though the makers have not announced the leading lady yet.
SRK’s Raees is directed by Rahul Dholakia, National Award winner for Parzania. The film, said to be based on real life, narrates the story of a bootlegger in Gujarat of the 1980s. Raees pairs SRK opposite Pakistani newcomer Mahira Khan. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is cast in an important role of a cop.
Salman and Shah Rukh are back to being friends after their infamous fight in 2008. Generally, the Khans, whose films are big-ticket events, avoid releasing their films on the same date with Salman preferring Eid, Shah Rukh Diwali and Aamir Christmas.
Next year though, Aamir will clash with Salman, too. Both Dangal and Sultan have been in the pipeline for the past one year. While Nitesh Tiwary has already finalised the main star cast of the film, including Aamir’s daughters for the film who are now undergoing training for the film, Ali Abbas Zafar and YRF are yet to make an announcement about Sultan’s leading lady.
Nitesh is all set to begin shooting for Dangal this September and Aamir, too has made sure he gives the film its much needed time. Aamir has already piled up as much as 22 kg for the film and is now weighing at a huge 90 kg.
While Aamir is planning to release his starrer in Christmas, since the film is about a wrestler, he fear the audience will have had enough of wrestling by December as Salman is playing a similar role in Sultan.
