Chaya Unnikrishnan (DNA; September 23, 2019)

Since the last few days, Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff have been sporting T-shirts that troll each other. While the Baaghi hero wore a tee that had Krrish printed on it with the caption, ‘Hiding your fear behind a mask?’, the Super 30 star sported a tee with a picture of Flying Jatt and a quote that read, ‘Flying away from this war already’? For the uninitiated, the two actors are sharing screen space in the upcoming film War, in which they are pitted against each other. And cheekily mocking each other is just a clever way of promoting their film.

“The entire marketing campaign of War has been designed to build the intense on-screen rivalry between Hrithik and Tiger. And looks like the team is going to do something extremely innovative and radical. In order to build the ferocious showdown between the two, the makers have decided that Hrithik and Tiger won’t meet during promotions! They would be doing everything separately and constantly build the element of war between the two. The makers want audiences to see Hrithik and Tiger for the first time on the big screen! It’s disruptive but will definitely position the promise of the film brilliantly,” says an insider.

Director Siddharth Anand confirms this, saying, “War pitches two of the biggest action superstars in this huge showdown and we want to hold the magic of seeing them going after each other and increase the anticipation for the movie. Hrithik and Tiger have fought each other mercilessly and we wanted to translate this onscreen rivalry into an off-screen conversation point. They will not share the same stage during the promotions of the film. The team is designing events and moments that pitch them against each other at every given opportunity. You have to wait and watch for this plan to unfold.”