Shah Rukh Khan holds Raees release, won’t take on Sultan

A potential box office clash of Salman Khan’s Sultan and Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees has been averted. Both the films were eyeing an Eid release, a window that Salman has consolidated for himself over the years. So quite predictably, Shah Rukh has blinked first—rather the producer Ritesh Sidhwani did, by postponing the film’s release by a few weeks.

Informs a source, “Raees and Sultan won’t release on the same date after all. Given what the clash of Shah Rukh’s Dilwale with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bajirao Mastani did to the former, Shah Rukh has been opposed to an Eid clash. Producer Ritesh Sidhwani wasn’t convinced of the move initially, but agreed later.”

Raees is now postponed by at least two weeks and buzz is that it will now take on either Sajid Nadiadwala’s Dhishoom (featuring John Abraham, Varun Dhawan and Jacqueline Fernandes) on July 29 or Ashutosh Gowariker’s Mohenjo Daro with Hrithik Roshan on August 12.