Exclusive: In Race of the Bald Men, ‘Bala’ might upstage ‘Ujdha Chaman’ with an Oct. 31 release

By Shikha Sharma

on October 24, 2019

The crazy race to the box office between Sunny Singh’s Ujdha Chaman and Ayushmann Khurrana’s Bala has got more exciting. Both films are based on similar stories of a prematurely balding man. They were fighting for the same release date post Diwali with the clear understanding that whichever bald man popped up at theatres first, was the winner. Audiences would naturally not go to see another bald man film soon after that.

Suddenly, last afternoon, Ujdha Chaman announced it was advancing its release and now coming on November 1. This was a solo slot. But was Bala content to come the following Friday, November 7, in second place? PeepingMoon.com sources say this is highly unlikely. And a quiet buzz is doing the round that the Amar Kaushik-directed film is looking to upstage its Abhishek Pathak-directed rival by now coming a day earlier on October 31.

After a disturbed night, the makers of Bala – Dinesh Vijan’s Maddock Films – took the surprising decision to come on October 31 because even a single day’s advantage could have a big impact on the box office. So, as things stand, and with both bald men running neck-to-neck to a furious finish, it looks like Ayushmann’s film will now breast the tape before Sunny’s film. PeepingMoon.com sources further say that the Bala team originally planned to release the film on November 2, but then wiser counsel prevailed and they opted for an October 31 release.

Meanwhile, Ujdha Chaman director Abhishek, who accused the makers of Bala of copyright infringement, has taken his fight to the Supreme Court. Yesterday, he filed a petition to stall the release of Bala and demanded that the issue of the similarities between both the films should be resolved before the release of the rival film. A decision on his petition is pending.