Aiyaary Release Date Pushed to Feb 9 to Avoid Clash With Padmavat and PadMan

The makers of Sidharth Malhotra-starrer Aiyaary decided to postpone the release date of the film to avoid box office clash with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmavat and R Balki's PadMan.

Padmavat, which was scheduled to release on December 1, was mired in controversy over its plot line. On December 30, Censor Board chief Prasoon Joshi had announced that the film, based on a 16th-century poem on legendary queen Padmini, would be given a U/A certificate and suggested that the makers change the film's title from Padmavati to 'Padmavat'. The Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Shahid Kapoor-starrer will arrive in theatres on January 25.

Earlier, Aiyaary was scheduled to hit theatres alongside Akshay Kumar's PadMan on Republic Day. However, the makers of PadMan later decided to prepone the release date of the film and announced that they were releasing the biopic a day before, i.e, January 25.

Therefore, the team of Aiyaary pushed the release date of the film to February 9 to avoid the big box office clash. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh confirmed the news on Twitter, writing, "It’s OFFICIAL... #Aiyaary shifted to 9 Feb 2018... Neeraj Pandey directs... Stars Sidharth Malhotra, Manoj Bajpayee, Rakul Preet Singh, Pooja Chopra, Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher."

The film, directed by Neeraj Pandey, features Malhotra as an army officer sharing a mentor-protege bond with Bajpaye and is based on a real-life incident that revolves around two strong-minded army officers having completely different views and are yet right in their own ways.