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Akshay Kumar's Jaanwar to release opposite Shah Rukh Khan's Happy New Year

22 Oct 2014

What Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck couldn't do, Akshay Kumar has dared to attempt. Take on Shah Rukh Khan in his Diwali domain.

While the Brad and Ben starrers Fury and Gone Girl were pushed ahead so as to not clash with Shah Rukh's Happy New Year , Akshay Kumar's Jaanwar creeps stealthily into the theatres alongside the SRK monster-release.

Suddenly out of the blue Shah Rukh Khan has competition. If we can call it that. Shah Rukh's eagerly awaited Happy New Year which no other film dared to take on, has now an Akshay Kumar starrer to reckon with.

The film is Suneel Darshan's 1999 hit Jaanwar which is being flash-released this Diwali in a new digitally enhanced avatar.

Explaining his decision to suddenly release the film on the same day as Happy New Year producer-director Suneel Darshan says, "The re-release was over-due. And what better time than Diwali? That it's releasing on the same Friday as HNY is a mere coincidence." Jaanwar which starred Akshay Kumar as a wild criminal who gets tamed when an orphan child comes into his life, is widely regarded as a turning-point in the star-actor's career.

After the film's release Suneel Darshan and Akshay Kumar became a hit team with films like Ek Rishta, Talaash and Dosti . They had a fall-out in 2006. Their last film together was Mere Jeevan Saathi and after which they never interacted.

When asked what Akshay Kumar had to say about the sudden re-release of a film that would look dated, given the time that has gone in-between, Suneel rationalized the move saying, "I am sure Akshay will be happy, as the audience will again get to see his finest performance to date. As for releasing with Happy New Year, Jaanwar is releasing for Diwali only in Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra, along with Gujarat, Delhi and UP. It will release in the rest of the territories later." Sources close to Akshay say he's unaware of Suneel Darshan's re-release plans and not too happy about it.