Don’t call it a clash, says Farhan Akhtar of locking horns with Kaabil on Jan 26
Subhash K Jha (DNA; November 4, 2016)

The inevitable clash between two biggies is happening.Ritesh Sidhwani-Farhan Akhtar production of Rahul Dhalokia’s Shah Rukh Khan starrer Raees will release on January 26 along with Rakesh Roshan’s production of Sanjay Gupta’s Hrithik starrer Kaabil.

It was speculated that the Raees producers “would see some sense” and pull out in time since Roshan Sr had announced his film first. But Farhan sees no sense on holding back Raees any longer.

He protests, “Please don’t call it a clash. We are not here to compete with Rakesh uncle and Hrithik’s film. There are just so many Fridays in a year. Then there are those weeks like the shraadh or pre-Diwali and pre-Eid when one can’t release one’s film. So where does one go?”

Farhan sees no conflict on two major releases coming together. “I truly feel — and I am not saying this because we’re coming with another film — there is room for two films to do well, as long as they are both good films with solid VFM (value for money). In the past, so many times there have been instances of two big films coming on the same Friday and doing well. Even our production house (Excel) has released films on the same Friday as other big films.”

Farhan doesn’t see the clash as damaging. “Quite recently Bajirao Mastani and Dilwale were released on the same day. They both did well. I’d wish and pray that Raees and the Roshans’ Kaabil would both do well.”

So no collision drama? Farhan chuckles, “I am the last person to wish ill for anyone’s film. So those hoping to get clash quotes on the ‘may-the-best-film-win’ topic may please look elsewhere. Roshan uncle and Hrithik are family. I want their film to do just as well, if not better than ours.”