What is Sidharth Malhotra grumbling about? Wonders R. Balki about the date clash of Pad Man with Aiyaary

30 Jan 2018

About the impending clash between R Balkis Pad Man and Neeraj Pandeys Aiyaary Aiyaarys lead actor Sidharth Malhotra is quoted as saying, Yes, it irritates, but now its too late. What can we do now? Look, we announced the date first. When Pad Man makers unveiled their release date, we were gracious enough to shift our release date to avoid the clash.This situation could have been resolved earlier, people could have stuck to their dates, respecting others space. I was not expecting the makers of Pad Man to release their film with us, especially the second time. We thought we will get a solo release. Pad Man director R. Balki is exasperated and amused by Malhotras outburst. I dont know what he is so irritated about. We had to shift from the Republic day weekend to another date, to another Friday to make way for a film that has been troubled and needed release space much more urgently than we did. We moved on humanitarian grounds and not because we wanted to once again clash with Aiyaary.I thought that was clear to everyone. Balki also refutes Sidharth Malhotras claim that Aiyaary announced its release date first on January 26. Id like to gently correct Sidharth. We had announced the release of Pad Man for Republic Day before Aiyaary.We had no problem with Aiyaary coming in, later, during the same weekend. So now why do they have a problem with us coming on February 9? We are not coming with Aiyaary.We would come on February 9 regardless of who is coming or not coming. Balki feels its about-time the film fraternity closed ranks. Lets not fight over Friday one-upmanship. We should all find a way to co-exist. Only then can we avoid the kind of attack that Padmaavat has to face. I dont understand why Sidharth Malhotra should feel threatened by Pad Man. Aiyaary and Pad Man are two different entities. They cant be seen as competitors.