Things may be smoother than ever before between Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. However, professionally they would be having an unlikely face-off of sorts. While Katrina Kaif starrer ‘Baar Baar Dekho‘ had already been finalized for September 9, many weeks ago, Salman Khan has just announced that he would be presenting his brother Sohail Khan’s ‘Freaky Ali’ on the same day.
“This one has been as sudden a development as it gets,” comments an insider, “All this while, it was only ‘Baar Baar Dekho’ which was gearing up for September 9 and the stage was wide open for the Dharma, Excel and Eros film. However, the sudden arrival of the Salman Khan production has surprised one and all.”
The makers of ‘Freaky Ali’ are projecting the film as a big Eid release, considering the fact that Bakra EId falls on Monday, September 12. With a four day weekend to their disposal, the date was too crucial to have been ignored.
“Moreover, for Salman Khan, Eid has always been special. A few weeks back he delivered Sultan on Eid and it turned out to be an All Time Blockbuster. Now for his brother Sohail Khan’s ‘Freaky Ali’, he has reserved another auspicious Eid date. Moreover, it is also an out and out Khan brothers show, what with Arbaaz Khan featuring in there as well. With Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the central protagonist Salman Khan – who has been fond of the actor since the days of ‘Kick’ and ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ – is going all out to promote the film extensively,” a source adds.
That said one solace that indeed is there for both ‘Baar Baar Dekho’ and ‘Freaky Ali’ is that both films belong to an altogether different space and setting.
“‘Baar Baar Dekho’ looks like a frothy romcom musical entertainer with Sidharth Malhotra and Katrina Kaif bringing on great chemistry. On the other hand ‘Freaky Ali’ revolves around golf and is expected to be a unique story in the offering. Its scale and reach would be largely niche, unlike ‘Baar Baar Dekho’ which would be appealing to a much larger segment of audience,” a trade guru comments.
Perhaps that would be good enough for the clash to even out eventually, and it won’t really turn out to be a battle galore like it has been for ‘Rustom’ and ‘Mohenjo Daro’, both of which are biggies. In case of ‘Baar Baar Dekho’ and ‘Freaky Ali’, hopefully it is going to be a peaceful outing for both Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif.
