Three is a crowd
Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Karan Johar have a new competitor in Christmas 2015, Sajid Nadiadwala
Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 15, 2014)

When Sanjay Leela Bhansali decided to play Santa Claus, he had just one rival waiting to clash swords with his Bajirao Mastani.

But with Hrithik Roshan stepping out of Shuddhi and Ranveer Singh choosing his mentor over Karan Johar, it seemed as if it would be a merry Christmas for SLB in 2015.

But in an interview to Mirror (July 17), KJo, who has now got Salman Khan's nod to play Shuddhi's hero and will start the film after director Karan Malhotra wraps up Warrior in mid-2014, asserted that he has not forfeited his Christmas date with the theatres. He announced that his production house will release a film with Bajirao Mastani, but wouldn't say which of his directors will take on SLB.

Now, suddenly, the two warriors have a new competitor. Sajid Nadidawala confirmed to Mirror last evening that his Ranbir Kapoor-Deepika Padukone starrer Tamasha, directed by Imtiaz Ali, will also be opening on the same day. "Yes, Tamasha will be a Christmas 2015 release," reiterated Sajid.

A source close to the producer-director pointed out that he had settled on a festival release because the film is a lavishly mounted musical.

When it was pointed out that he would be clashing with two big producers, the source reasoned that while SLB and KJo have yet to flag off their projects, Sajid's Tamasha has already wrapped up its first schedule in the French island of Corsica and is well on track.

"The film will be completed by October 2015 which will give him plenty of time to plan a big release for Christmnas," says the source. "He refuses to think of competition from films which are yet to take shape and form."

SLB and Karan did not respond to our texts and calls.