Salman Khan vs Shah Rukh Khan: Has the online war between their fans become a national obsession?

London: Discussing the sweet and sour relationship between Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan has become part of our lives. As average film buff seems to be more updated on the equation between Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan than anything else. Last month, Salman had threatened to quit Twitter, to dissuade his fans from tweeting against other superstars. Lecturing his followers on Twitter, Salman categorically stated “Continue it n I vil b off twitter. Came here to spread love, share sm thoughts hv fun vit fans not for them to insult my fraternity. Hut (sic).”

It was just a matter of few weeks that the fight for supremacy restarted on Twitter. The month has been high on 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' fever. In between came in the gripping few-seconds trailer of Shah Rukh Khan-starrer 'Fan', directed by Maneesh Sharma. This again started the tweet war between the fans debating over which film would excel vis-à-vis who is a better actor. Yash Raj Production’s 'Fan' hopes to break the trend by releasing the film on April 15, a non festival day. This has started the online clash between the fan groups of both the actors. Trolls, negative and abusive messages made rounds with each fan group trying to distastefully upstage their favourite screen idols.

This was followed by the news that Salman Khan’s 'Sultan', will be released on Eid 2016, which was already blocked by Shah Rukh Khan’s 'Raees'. This has again started the Khan Vs Khan war. Two highly speculated films starring the two Khans will be released on the same day, which is expected to be the biggest box-office face off during Eid 2016.

Shah Rukh Khan’s 'Raees' was planned for Eid 2016 release and producers Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, had made an announcement, well in advance. Salman’s 'Sultan' came as a surprise announcement as it gave a clear message to clash with SRK’s 'Raees', and triggered a war of sorts where the fans got divided in 'Raees' Vs 'Sultan' war.

The announcement was big enough to raise the pulse rate of the distributors and multiplex owners who are looking at it as the most crucial business bid. Nearing 50, the Khans know that they have a threat facing them on their face, with new actors walking an extra mile to make strong content as the latest marketing mantra for the new-age Bollywood films. Capturing the festive weekends for maximum profit at the box office has now become an ego issue.

The clash of two big releases starring superstar has always been a disastrous at box office and less lucrative business proposition. Back in 2006, when Shah Rukh’s 'Don' and Salman Khan-Akshay Kumar’s 'Jaan-E-Mann' had released on Diwali, it was a loss for both the films. While 'Don' was a hit, 'Jaan-E-Mann' was a flop, but for the distributors and exhibitors of both the films, it was a huge business loss.

Let’s wait and watch if 2016 will repeat the history. Will the loyal fans of the two stars bail them out by thronging at the theatre and boosting the ticket sale or will it be yet another twitter war? Since the Khans are known for shocking the audience with outlandish ideas, who knows one of Khans might decide the change the release date to avoid the clash.