‘Shivaay’ – ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ clash: Ajay Devgn or Ranbir Kapoor – Who will win the Diwali BO battle?

Mumbai: Ajay Devgn and Karan Johar have never really shared a good rapport, allegedly. The two, who are equally popular and powerful, are clashing at the Box Office this Diwali – their films ‘Shivaay’ and ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ – respectively, are releasing on October 28. Both are big budget films and stakes are definitely high.

The equation between Ajay and Karan worsened recently after “self-proclaimed” film critic KRK (Kamaal Rashid Khan) accused Johar of paying him Rs 25 lakhs for dissing Ajay’s ‘Shivaay’. Nonetheless, the controversial personality subsequently twisted his statement and blamed Devgn for the hullabaloo. Following Devgn's 'expose' with an audio byte in which KRK allegedly admits to have been paid by KJo, surfaced, the 'Singham' star issued a statement.

You can read more about the same here:

Interestingly, Kajol, Ajay’s wife, has been a very good friend of Johar’s and has worked with him in his films. After Ajay shared a link to KRK’s telephonic conversation with Kumar Mangat Pathak, the former’s business associate, Kajol too reacted on Twitter.

Here’s how Mrs Devgn reacted:

However, Johar, has remained tight-lipped on this issue and has chosen not to utter a word about it.

And now, speculations are rife that attempts are being made by someone to sabotage ‘Shivaay’.

Reports suggested that negative news was being spread to malign ‘Shivaay’. It was reportedly being believed that Eros walked out of the film after the budget went too high. However, Ajay is least perturbed.

 “It’s silly to give out such stories as the studio (Eros) left the film last year itself. In fact, it left Ajay and his creative team without finance and they couldn’t start the film till Jayantilal Gada came on board. It had been widely reported at that time itself. Why is it back in news? Obviously, someone with an agenda is spreading this news to make it look like the studio exited the film now because they weren’t happy with the results,” an insider revealed to DNA.

Nonetheless, Ajay is not worried and is busy planning his promotional campaign. He is a superstar and has had a number of blockbusters to his credit. ‘Shivaay’ is his most ambitious project not just as an actor but a director. So, he would have certainly delivered a fabulous performance.

Now let’s take a look at what ‘Shivaay’ and ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ have to offer:

Brand Ajay Devgn Vs Multi starrer project

Going by the trailer, Ajay’s ‘Shivaay’ comes across as a “one man army”. The film will ride on his shoulders alone whereas ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ is a multi-starrer and has Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Fawad Khan on board. Speculations are rife that Shah Rukh Khan may make a special appearance in the film.

Genre - Poles apart

Ajay’s ‘Shivaay’ is an action-thriller. The trailer of the film sets the mood of the story that will unfold. So we can look forward to a number of breathtaking action sequences and stunts by the heavyweight while Johar’s ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ will deal with romance. Though we can make several predictions about ADHM’s storyline, there is no denying that the multi-starrer is going to be high on love and romance.

High octane music Vs lyrically enchanting compositions

Given the kind of genres ‘Shivaay’ and ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ belong to, the music of each of these films will resonate the actual mood inherent in their respective stories. A thriller like ‘Shivaay’ will have a completely different kind of music to offer over ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’. ADHM’s music has received a great response too.

Ajay’s direction Vs Johar’s tried and tested formula

‘Shivaay’, Ajay’s most ambitious project till date has been directed by the man himself. The big film is his second directorial venture after ‘U Me and Hum’, his directorial debut project. He has gone all guns blazing for ‘Shivaay’ and has left no stone unturned to give it a “larger than life” appeal on celluloid. It took a while for him to finalise the location and finally locked Bulgaria to shoot major portions of the film. The “behind-the-scenes” videos shared by Ajay on social media platforms clearly establish the challenges the cast and crew might have come across while shooting for the film.

ADHM is Johar’s seventh film. Karan has ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’, ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’, ‘Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna’, ‘My Name Is Khan’, ‘Student of the Year’ besides one of the four short films in ‘Bombay Talkies’. Johar sticks to his core idea of delivering romantic films, and ADHM promises to follow the same trend.

Ajay’s BO success rate Vs Ranbir’s recent failures

Ajay has two National Awards in his kitty and has a number of successful films to his credit. The actor has proved his versatility by essaying a variety of characters on screen – be it comedy, action, romance or thriller – Ajay has done it all. His films ‘Singham Returns’ from the super-hit series ‘Singham’ was much appreciated. His film ‘Drishyam’, a remake of a Malayalam blockbuster too did relatively well. Though Ajay has had his share of Box Office duds, he is a bigger star than Ranbir, who hasn’t had a great time (professionally) in the recent past. With back-to-back flops – ‘Besharam’, ‘Roy’, ‘Bombay Velvet’ and ‘Tamasha’, Ranbir desperately needs a superhit film to push his career graph upward.

Woman power - New faces Vs successful names

Devgn’s ‘Shivaay’ will launch two news faces in Bollywood - Sayyeshaa Saigal (grandniece of the legendary couple- Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu) and Erika Kaar, a Polish actress. Johar’s ADHM has two well-known names associated with it – Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Anushka Sharma.

It will certainly be interesting to see what roles each of these women play in their respective films.

It would be difficult to predict which of these two films will win the race at the Box Office. But for a movie buff who loves cinema, it would be a double Diwali treat for sure.

Both the films are poles apart for sure. But their Box Office performance will remain a mystery until they hit the silverscreen next month.

Till then, let’s keep guessing.