Two big Amitabh films releasing on same day

Mumbai, May 13 (IANS) Two of superstar Amitabh Bachchan's films - "Cheeni Kum" and "Shootout At Lokhandwala" - will release on the same day. Though he had requested that the latter be released a little later, the producer convinced him that it wouldn't make much of a difference.

"They belong to different genres. Apart from the fact that they star Mr. Bachchan, there's nothing common between the two movies. In fact, I'd have liked Cheeni Kum's release to be shifted forward because no matter when it's released, it will find its staunch audiences. But 'Shootout...' is an action flick and will have to compete with films at home and abroad," Sanjay Gupta, producer of "Shootout...", told IANS.

R. Balkrishnan's "Cheeni Kum" has Amitabh starring opposite Tabu. "Shootout..." is a multi-starrer that has Sanjay Dutt, Vivek Oberoi, Suniel Shetty, Arbaaz Khan, Dia Mirza and Neha Dhupia apart from Amitabh and Abhishek. Both the biggies are set to release May 25.

Gupta was initially reluctant to turn down Amitabh's request but had no choice because it would have clashed with other films.

"Mr. Bachchan and Abhishek have charged me no money for 'Shootout...' That's their love for Sanjay (Dutt). And I'd be the last person to disrespect Mr. Bachchan's wishes. However, there was nowhere for me to go. On June 1 we'd have to clash with 'Fool & Final'.

"Also, there's the third part of 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' coming up. After the sweeping success of 'Spiderman 3', we filmmakers are scared of dubbed Hollywood films."

Adding to Gupta's woes are rumours that every actor in "Shootout..." has a guest appearance.

"Not true!" protested Gupta. "And I know this rumour is being spread by a jealous overseas distributor whom we didn't give international distribution right. Our company White Feather is distributing the film abroad.

"The fact is, every member of the cast including Mr. Bachchan and Sanjay have full-fledged roles. The only cameo is Abhishek's. And we took Mr. Bachchan's permission before using Abhishek's face prominently for publicity.

"When both father and son have gone out of their way to accommodate us, the last thing I'd want to do is exploit their presence in our film."

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Cheeni Kum