War of release dates in Bollywood

Actor Saif Ali Khan has finally locked down on another date for his production Agent Vinod that also stars girlfriend actor Kareena Kapoor. As speculated, the date has now been postponed to March 23.

The action thriller that was earlier slated to release on February 17, clashing with the Riteish Deshmukh-Genelia D’Souza starrer romcom Tere Naal Ishq Ho Gaya will however now clash with another action flick, the Ajay Devgn starrer Tezz, that’s also been generating quite a buzz in the trade circles.

But now a face-off between the two actors — who had once starred together in Kacche Dhaage, in what was considered a rather successful male pairing back then — seems inevitable as apparently neither of them are keen to change the dates of the release any further.  Incidentally, Ajay’s film was earlier slated for a January release, but the makers apparently pushed it to March to avoid clashing with Karan Johar’s biggie Agneepath starring Hrithik Roshan that’s releasing on January 26.

Some industry insiders point out that by postponing the release date of Agent Vinod, Saif has managed to avert Kareena’s films from releasing back-to-back, as there was expected to be a clash of interests for the actress when it came to promoting the films, as her Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu was to release on February 10, a week before the earlier scheduled date for Agent Vinod. However, another source insists that pushing the date further had nothing to do with Kareena’s films. Instead, buzz is that the film is not yet complete and it is this delay that’s made the filmmakers push the date from February to March. “They were not worried about the film earlier clashing with Tere Naal… nor are they worried now, about clashing with Tezz,” says the source.

This decision to push the release date, is likely to affect Saif-Bebo’s wedding date as well. “The wedding that was speculated to happen in February, may now happen in April. Saif had made it very clear that for now, he is only concentrating on the film and wedding will happen post release, Kareena too agrees. Now that the release date has been finalised, they will figure a wedding date with their respective families,” adds the insider.
a_shetye@dnaindia.net