The
producer
of
the
Ajay
Devgan
starrer
Halla
Bol,
Abdol
Samee
Siddiqui,
and
director
Raj
Kumar
Santoshi
are
upset
with
rumours
that
the
movie
was
postponed
from
December
21
to
January
11
as
the
film
wasn"t
getting
sold.
In
a
frank
chat,
both
clear
the
air.
Selling
price
Santoshi
is
in
Los
Angeles
busy
with
pre-production
work
of
Asoka.
Refuting
rumours,
he
says
angrily,
“It"s
absolutely
not
true.
I
really
don"t
know
who
is
spreading
these
rumours.
Halla
Bol
has
been
sold
at
a
very
good
price.
In
fact,
Sudhir
from
Pyramid
Saimira
told
me
last
week
that
the
offer
for
the
Bihar
territory
was
more
than
Om
Shanti
Om."
Siddiqui
adds,
“Halla
Bol
was
already
sold
to
Pyramid
Saimira
a
month
ago
at
a
fabulous
price."
So
why
was
Halla
Bol
postponed?
Says
Santoshi,
“We
decided
to
postpone
the
film
as
three
films
releasing
on
the
same
day
(December
21)
would
harm
everyone"s
business."
Siddiqui
adds,
“The
decision
to
postpone
was
taken
jointly
taken
by
Ajay
Devgan,
the
producers,
distributor
and
Raj
Kumar
Santoshi."
Joint
decision
He
adds,
“It
wasn"t
because
Ajay
didn"t
want
to
clash
with
Akshay
Kumar
or
anything
else!
Halla
Bol
is
a
very
different
commercial
film
so
we
needed
to
promote
it
in
a
different
way.
Our
marketing
strategy
is
the
only
reason."
There
have
been
reports
that
Halla
Bol
is
based
on
the
Aamir
Khan-Narendra
Modi
clash.
Both
Santoshi
and
Siddiqui
deny
the
rumour.
Santoshi
says,
“The
question
of
Halla
Bol
being
based
around
the
Narmada
Bachao
Andolan
clash
doesn"t
arise
as
we
shot
the
film
much
earlier.
Ajay
plays
a
superstar
but
he"s
not
based
on
any
real-life
character.
There
are
vested
interests
that
are
trying
to
harm
Halla
Bol.
I
don"t
know
who
it
is
yet,
but
once
I"m
back
I
will
definitely
find
out."
Story first published: Tuesday, December 4, 2007, 16:20 [IST]