Akshay downplays box office battle with Shah Rukh this Eid

This Eid two superstars – Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar – will be clashing at the box office with their respective films, but the latter says too much should not be read into this and hoped both movies will do robust business.

“I don’t take it as Shah Rukh vs Akshay. Two films releasing together is a positive thing. Eid is a big day and both films will do well. One should not see too much into this,” Akshay said this evening.

He was speaking to reporters here at the first look launch of ‘Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Again’ (OUATIMA).

Ever since Salman Khan’s ‘Wanted’ hit the theatres on Eid in 2009 and did roaring business, it had almost become a tradition for the actor to have a release around that time of the year. But he has no film releasing on Eid this year.

Two movies, ‘Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai 2’ and ‘Chennai Express’, will compete at the box office around the festival on August 8.

‘Chennai Express’ is a romantic comedy directed by Rohit Shetty and it stars Shah Rukh and Deepika Padukone.

The Milan Luthria-directed ‘ Once Upon A Time…’ is a gangster-romantic flick with Akshay, Imran Khan and Sonakshi Sinha as protagonists. It is a sequel to the 2010 hit ‘Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai’.

Last year, Yash Chopra’s ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ and Ajay Devgn’s ‘Son of Sardaar’ released during Diwali. The battle between the two films took an ugly turn when Ajay filed a case accusing Yash Raj Films of abusing its dominant position.

Also, the promo of ‘OUATIMA’ will release alongside Karan Johar’s ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’. This led to rumours that Karan was favouring Akshay over good friend Shah Rukh.

When asked about the same, Akshay said, “I don’t think it is right to say such things. Our promo was ready hence it is coming with this film (‘Yeh Jawaani…’). We all are friends here. After all we are from same fraternity.
Source: TimesofIndia