Karan Johar vs Ajay Devgn for Sultan

Last month, reports of a ‘cold war’ brewing between Ajay Devgn and Karan Johar made headlines over their respective directorial ventures.

According to reports, Ajay had finalized October 28 as the release date for his upcoming film Shivaay back in 2015. Later, Karan Johar also announced his plans of releasing his upcoming directorial Ae Dil Hai Mushkil on the same day.

Both Shivaay and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil boast of an enviable star cast with Ajay starring in his directorial and Ranbir Kapoor & Anushka Sharma starring in the latter. Although both movies are complete opposites in terms of their genres, it surely doesn’t make sense for two big-budget movies to eat into each other’s business.

However, despite negotiations, both have stayed adamant on the release date.

Now, to add to the tension, both are vying to showcase their trailer during the release of the most anticipated film of the year – ‘Sultan’ – in a bid to grab maximum eyeballs.

An industry source told DNA, “Both Ajay and Karan are trying to make sure that maximum people get a glimpse of their films and what better than to hitch their wagons to Sultan, which trade analysts are already predicting will get a Rs 40 crore for. So imagine the number of people going to watch the film on the first day. Both Ajay and Karan want their films to be associated with the Khan film, in what is called indirect marketing. While there are rumours that Karan has requested his friend Aditya Chopra to release the trailer of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil with Sultan, KJo denies this, ‘My trailer is nowhere near ready’. Ajay has created a special poster for Shivaay, which will be put across all multiplexes in the country as standees. This will be the first romantic look of Ajay with his leading lady Sayyeshaa.”

Needless to say, the trailer of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil will have to be ready by Sultan’s Eid release for it to be even in contention. However, if Karan somehow manages to pull it off, it will only escalate the tension between the two.