Subhash K Jha

Sometimes, misinformation passed off as authentic fact by supposedly informed trade sources can get trying.

Ever since a Mumbai trade magazine wrote about Amitabh Bachchan clashing with Hrithik Roshan on the same Friday, websites and Page 3 compilers of tabloids have been busy splashing the 'news' that the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Aankhen and the Hrithik Roshan starrer Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage (AMALL) are being released simultaneously on April 5.

"Not if I can help it," retorts AMALL director Vikram Bhatt, who is now biting his fingernails over the release of Raaz [releasing February 1, along with Meghna Gulzar's Filhaal] . "I have no idea where this supposedly authentic information came from. To me and -- I'm sure -- my producers Mohan Kumar and Rohit Kumar, it makes no sense to release our film on the same day as Aankhen. It doesn't suit them; it doesn't suit us. It is wrong in principle to release two big films on the same day. So as of now our film is being released on March 29."

Akshay Kumar, who stars in Aankhen, corroborates Vikram's view: "That's right. Aankhen is due for release on April 5, though you never know with release dates these days. Producer Gaurang Doshi tells me it releases on April 5."

One wonders then how the 'Amitabh Bachchan Versus Hrithik Roshan' campaign began. This is not a new occurrence. It is the easiest thing -- in the film press -- to pitch two big films against each other and portray the leading men as competitors and combatants. Last year, Anil Sharma's Gadar - Ek Prem Katha and Ashutosh Gowariker's Lagaan were enthusiastically pitched against one another simply because they were both released on the same Friday. The people behind the two films went blue in the face denying any deliberate ploy to upstage one another. No one listened.

Later during the year, two more big films -- Santosh Sivan's Asoka and Maharajan's Indian were similarly aligned on two sides of the firing line for a fight-to-the-finish. A section of the gossip press even suggested that Sunny Deol had deliberately timed the release of his home production to upstage Shah Rukh Khan.

Though Sunny gently but firmly denied the allegation, the damage was done. At the recent Fairglow Zee Cine Awards function, Sunny and Shah Rukh sat stiffly next to each other without exchanging a word.

It is baffling why two big films released on the same day cannot be accommodated at the box-office together. And why a section of media watchers speculate and salivate at the prospect of a headlong collision. Could it be because two big films can no longer draw in crowds on the same Friday?

Not true. There are innumerable instances in the past of two major releases doing equally well on the same Friday. Gadar and Lagaan being prime examples of the year 2001.

A question remains. Even if AMALL and Aankhen were released simultaneously, would Big B's fans have stayed away from a Hrithik starrer? Moreover, since Aankhen is an action-suspense thriller and the other an out-and-out romantic musical?