Showdown, not show time

With Raees and Kaabil set to lock horns at the theatres next month, the makers of both the films are on an epic publicity overdrive

These so-called titanic clashes - two Bollywood biggies releasing on the same day - are setting my teeth on edge. Hey, how about letting the films speak and tote ticket sales on their own steam?
Just last year, the simultaneous premieres of the Rohit Shetty comedy of sorts Dilwale (toplining Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol) and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period opus Bajirao Mastani (spotlighting Deepika Padukone-Ranveer Singh-Priyanka Chopra) sparked a royal battle.
This year, there was much consternation over the clash of Karan Johar's romantic drama Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Ajay Devgn's action thriller Shivaay. The merits or demerits of the individual films don't matter. Hysteria breaks out over which film has scored more at the cash counters. And the pre-release publicity budgets for the films go insanely astral. Certainly not a healthy scenario. Obviously, the leading lights of Bollywood love to hate their peers, although there's sufficient space - and audience - to both thrive and let thrive.
It's no secret now that the upcoming year will kick off with another showdown. The Rajat Dholakia-directed crime thriller Raees, featuring Shah Rukh Khan as a don, will fight it out with the Sanjay Gupta-directed revenge flick Kaabil, centred on Hrithik Roshan as a blind man trailing the killer (or maybe killers) of the heroine, played by Yami Gautam. Both films are currently on an epic publicity overdrive.
Like it or not, teasers, promotional trailers and peppery statements on social networking sites are of paramount importance today, calculated to command a rush to the multiplexes on the film's opening weekend. If a film goes on to sustain its collections during the weekdays, terrific! In any case, the initial days will have, in most cases, recovered a film's budget and more.
At the outset, official announcements stated that Raees and Kaabil would be released on the Republic Day holiday, January 26. Rakesh Roshan, producer of his son's film, however, tried to go one up, by announcing that Kaabil would open on the evening of January 25, in a bid to steal a march over the competition. Smart move that.
Not the sort to grin and bear it, Shah Rukh Khan has also elected to open on the eve of Republic Day, to which filmmaker Rakesh Roshan responded sarcastically that the superstar was apparently emulating his "business sense".
And to think that Shah Rukh Khan, before achieving the status of a superstar, had been directed in a supporting part by Rakesh Roshan in King Uncle (1993). Jackie Shroff had played the lead in that almost-forgotten avuncular film, which had tanked. To give SRK his due, when the simultaneous openings of Raees and Kaabil became common knowledge, he reportedly visited Roshan Sr at his home to suggest a way out to avoid the clash.
The meeting, however, led to a stalemate. Neither would budge from the Republic Day slot. Ever since, the Internet has been abuzz with the question, "Will Khan or Roshan emerge as the winner?" Such an exacerbation of the clash can't be helped, I suppose. All I can hope is that the better film wins, unaffected by the brouhaha of the killer competition.
However - and this is a hypothetical thought - currently Shah Rukh Khan does have an edge over Hrithik Roshan. The Khan has been thumbed up widely for his performance as a do-gooder therapist in Dear Zindagi. Meanwhile, Hrithik still has to rise from the ashes (literally) after the colossal failure of the snooze-fest Mohenjo Daro.
Again, the thought nags: can Sanjay Gupta who has helmed Kaabil deliver a product that is devoid of his patented obtrusive, flashy technique, which didn't do much to revive the career of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in her comeback effort Jazbaa?
As for the director of Raees, Rahul Dholakia may not have knocked out mega-hits in the past, but he has proved to be a gutsy storyteller with a social conscience - especially with the modestly-budgeted Parzania that fetched him and Sarika the Best Director and Best Actress National Awards, respectively, in 2006.
Given the conditions, undoubtedly, the two films will end up eating into each other's ticket sales. In addition, rampant piracy leads to ready access to fuzzy, illegal video prints - on pen drives and cellphones - of even mint-fresh movies.
Despite regular checks on the piracy menace, it's yet to be contained. The authorities - including the police and the film associations - will have to ensure a stepped-up vigil on the two biggies of 2017.
On a personal note, I'd like to see both Raees and Kaabil back-to-back at a multiplex. I dare say that's the way it should be: give every movie a chance without a shred of publicity moves and prejudice.
wknd@khaleejtimes.com