Shahid and Vidya clash

By Joginder Tuteja, Expect some fireworks at the very beginning of the year as festivities and celebrations continue from New Year celebrations to the entire month of January.

There are number of movies lined up for release with massive battle in the happening ever since Karan Johar announced 12th January as the D-day for the arrival of Shah Rukh Khan starrer MY NAME IS KHAN. There is an around frenzy amongst movies to arrive in January since no big film is risking competing with one of the first huge films of 2009.

Two such films are CHANCE PE DANCE and ISHQIYA that have pencilled in 15th January for their arrival on the big screen. Incidentally, the central protagonists of these films are Shahid Kapoor and Vidya Balan respectively, both of whom were seen together as a pair in KISMAT KONNECTION.

Both films were originally meant to arrive in 2008. However, Shahid Kapoor had two back-to-back releases in the form of KAMINEY and DIL BOLE HADIPPA and it made sense for him to space out his film. On the other hand ISHQIYA had to keep it's release on hold since there was a flurry of releases in the last quarter of 2009.

What surprises most about the release of ISHQIYA is the fact that it was originally contemplating a 22nd January arrival. While 12th February too was being thought of (due to the relevance of bringing the love story over the Valentine weekend), confirmation of MY NAME IS KHAN resulted in change of plans. While 22nd January had appeared to be a confirmed day of arrival, a sudden pre-poning by a week looks more than just a coincidence, considering the fact it clashes with Shahid's CHANCE PE DANCE.

However, to be fair to the decision of the makers, 22nd January is anyways crowded with RANN and VEER arriving on the same day. In comparison, 15th January looks much lighter with only CHANCE PE DANCE looking probable so far.

Confirms Vidya, "Yes, I was told over the weekend that 15th January is final for ISHQIYA. Beyond that, I don’t have any knowledge about the reason behind the fixing of the release date.”

Starring Arshad Warsi and Naseeruddin Shah in the lead roles, ISHQIYA is directed by first timer Abhishek Chaubhey and is a co-production of Vishal Bhardwaj and Shemaroo’s Raman Maroo. On the other hand IT’S MY LIFE is a UTV production, features Genelia D’Souza as the leading lady and has film maker Ken Ghosh at the helm of affairs.