Saawariya War!! [3 Nov 2007] |
Finally, the big Diwali war has begun. Sanjay Leela Bhansali has fired the first salvo by preponing the premiere of his magnum opus ' Saawariya' to November 7 to upstage Shah Rukh Khan- Deepika Padukone starrer big budget film ' Om Shanti Om'. Both the films are scheduled for a worldwide release on November 9, but by advancing the date of ' Saawariya', Sanjay Leela Bhansali wants to take the advantage of first mover. Normally, premieres are held fourteen hours before the release to avoid any kind of adverse publicity of the film. But in this case, Sanjay Leela Bhansali has done a very clever thing ,as he knows well that Shah Rukh Khan is undoubted Badshah of box office, and hence people will prefer his ' Om Shanti Om' to ' Saawariya.' But by premiering before Shah Rukh's film, Sanjay will be able to create a positive environment for his love story among the audience as there would not be any competition at that point of time. In fact, Sanjay Bhansali and Sony Pictures are so confident of ' Saawariya' clicking with the masses that they wanted to premiere the film one week in advance in New York, but could not do so as the special effects of the film delayed the whole process and there was little time left. Sony is targeting the Non Resident Indians who are present throughout the world and is planning to release nine hundred prints in the global market besides releasing six hundred prints in India. However, trade pundits are of the view that ' Saawariya' and ' Om Shanti Om' are two completely different films and there is huge Diwali market for both the films. While ' Saawariya' has the master touch of a magician like Sanjay Leela Bhansali with two fresh faces of Sonam and Ranbir Kapoor, ' Om Shanti Om' promises to be a complete entertainer with King Khan and sexy bombshell Deepika Padukone. Sanjay Leela Bhansali's earlier films like ' Devdas', ' Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam' etc have been very successful at the box office due to his magical direction, immaculate photography and chartbuster music. And there are no reasons to believe that he can not do the same this time as well. The only hitch was the clash with Shah Rukh's big Budget film, but with preponing of the premiere, Sanjay seems to have overcome that problem too. Hmm….hmm…..seems Sanjay Leela Bhansali has made up his mind to burst the cracker well before Diwali (with ' Saawariya' premiere on seventh)…..er….er…..but lets hope there is no shanti at the box office…..hee….tee…..hee!! |
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