Shanti, shanti om! SRK & Sanjay Bhansali

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Shanti, shanti om!

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Meanwhile, Shah Rukh Khan has convinced Sanjay Bhansali that filmmakers should stand united and not be seen bickering over small things like release dates. So, both their films will release on November 9

Back to Section Stories Posted On Friday, July 13, 2007


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Subhash K Jha

Shah Rukh Khan

It's finally decided. Talks of Shah Rukh Khan-Farah Khan's second collaborative film Om Shanti Om being shifted out of the much-coveted Diwali week, November 9, were indeed premature.

There were attempts to resolve the impending box-office bottleneck. Shah Rukh Khan apparently rang up Sanjay Bhansali before his London vacation. And they both agreed there was no need for a confrontational situation. Our source says SRK apparently reasoned with Bhansali that filmmakers should present a united stand and not be seen haggling over small things like release dates, etc, before the world in general and the press in particular. Everyone's in the same boat here, he's supposed to have said, and no one in Bollywood is working against the other. In other words, he convinced Bhansali that Bollywood is one big happy family.

Since it's unanimously felt that Om Shanti Om is a "very Diwali kind of film" the makers have decided to go ahead with the release, although it clashes with one of the most important films of the year…. Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya. That comes with the formidable image of a celluloid creator who has delivered three multiple award-winning blockbusters in a row.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali

However, Shah Rukh has reason to put his film out for Diwali. In the last two years, he has had two hits for Diwali. In 2005 Diwali he had Veer-Zara. In 2006 there was Don. And the biggest hit of SRK's career Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge was also released for Diwali.

The people behind Saawariya are unfazed. Says a spokesperson, "Gone are the days of single-theatre releases when one or the other film cornered the entire chain of good theatres leaving other releases with no choice but to back down or release in inferior theatres. Now with the multiplexes there can be many releases. And none of the releases need to suffer. Saawariya will release on schedule. I'm sure audiences will go to see both the films."