Yodha takes flight early; Karan Johar reschedules Sidharth Malhotra's action thriller amid the Dunki vs. Salaar clash

Amid the big chaos that has created with Dunki and Salaar clashing at the box office on December 22, 2023, reports were making the rounds that Karan Johar will be rescheduling the release date of his upcoming production, Yodha. Now, the filmmaker has officially confirmed that the action film starring Siddharth Malhotra, Raashii Khanna, and Disha Patani in the lead roles will now release a week early on December 8, 2023.

New release date announcement:

Karan took to his Instagram page and shared the new release date by writing, "We are all set to land in cinemas on December 8, 2023! #Yodha @apoorva1972 @shashankkhaitan @sidmalhotra @dishapatani @raashiikhanna @sagarambre_ #PushkarOjha @primevideoin @dharmamovies @mentor_disciple_films @tseries.official (sic)"

ALSO READ: Karan Johar's Yodha shifts gears as Shah Rukh Khan's Dunki and Prabhas' Salaar lock horns

Take a look at the announcement below:

Meanwhile, trade analyst Taran Adarsh posted on X that Sriram Raghavan's Merry Christmas, starring Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi, will also be arriving on the same day, that is, December 8, 2023.

Reason behind Yodha's rescheduled release:

Earlier, while talking about the change in release date of Yodha, a source told Bollywood Hungama, "Yodha is produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions. Karan realised that it’ll be difficult for Yodha to retain screens in the second week once Dunki and Salaar arrive in cinemas. Moreover, it’ll become challenging even for Dunki and Salaar’s distributors since theatres would not want to lose out on Yodha, especially if it does well."

The source added that it's common knowledge that Karan and Shah Rukh Khan go back a long way. Moreover, he is connected to Prabhas because the filmmaker presented the Hindi version of the Baahubali franchise. Therefore, he has postponed bringing Yodha to the premiere in order to avoid upstaging SRK and Prabhas.

ALSO READ: Karan Johar on Merry Christmas clashing with Yodha: ‘Clashing on a date without the courtesy of a phone call...’

Pushkar Ojha and Sagar Ambre are in charge of directing Yodha, which is an aerial action thriller. The film marks the first outing of Sidharth, Disha, and Raashii together.