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Another Friday , another spate of releases and another face off on the cards. Yes , Karan Johar’s teeny popcorn romance flick Student Of The Year and Nikhil Advani’s 3D animation jungle ride Delhi Safari would be striving for the Viewer’s attention this Friday . What’s made this clash interesting is that Nikhil Advani , who has been waiting for years to finally release his much talked about Delhi Safari is pitted against his one-time mentor Karan Johar’s bubbly SOTY where he introduces 3 fresh faces , 2 being those from the Filmi Khaandaan itself – Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan.
A brief escape in the past and one would quickly make a note that it was Karan Johar who was instrumental in giving Nikhil Advani a break initially, yes Advani was an Assistant Director in KJo’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (even a brief appearance in the Neelam Show of KKHH ;-)) . However post his directorial debut Kal Ho Naa Ho (which many believed to be just a one-time wonder !) , he parted ways with Dharma Productions and went on to produce and direct his own movies.
The journey after the ‘reported’ rift has been quite tumultuous for Advani . He went on to produce and direct movies like Salaam-e-Ishq (a hit inspired from Love Actually and Dance with Me), Patiala House (average) and super duds – Chandni Chowk (inspired from Kung-Fu Panda !) and Jaane Kahaan Se Aayi Hai. Moreover , KJo has had a joyous journey , barring the Kaal , I hate love storys and We are Family debacles .
There was actually a time when many Trade Pundits felt that the rift was a thing of the past and new ventures might be on the cards , probably because Johar did a cameo in Jaane Kahaan Se Aayi Hai and even introduced the movie at a function then. However, they were never to work again.
Some feel that the movies being of different genre won’t put much pressure on the bottom line . Delhi Safari is a Madagascar-inspired jungle tale of animals in distress ,whereas SOTY is a typical-Johar style masala entertainer for the masses .
Its been more of a packed schedule for the Moviewallahs lately , with the Khans having reserved Eids, Diwaalis and Christmas’ for their releases and even Dussehra booked by Prakash Jha and Puja Films , filmmakers have to sandwich their releases in the period available . Another notable clash owing to such a scarcity of dates can be sought from the recent Kashyap-RGV clash last weekend . Kashyap, who once assisted Ram Gopal Verma with Shool, Kaun ? and Satya had not one one but two of his movies Aiyyaa and Chittagong against Verma’s Bhoot Returns . Well, as one can see Aiyyaa and Bhoot Returns fell on weak storylines and the simultaneous didn’t help either, Chittagong despite being a great product suffered as a result of lack of audience for such exceptional cinema.
All said and done , Student of the year is definitely destined to have a remarkable opening at the Box Office but how these movies fair in the long run would depend on the word of mouth as well as their respective storylines and the ‘bent of audiences’ too – a glossy college flick or an acclaimed 3D animation feature.
Expect Delhi Safari to leave a dent on Johar’s Student Of The Year even as Prakash Jha waits to salvage some pride with his Chakravyuh next week!
