Box Office Clash: Rajinikanth's 'Lingaa' to Lock Horns with Vijay's 'Kaththi' this Diwali?

If the latest rumours are to be believed, fans might witness a big clash between superstar Rajinikanth and Ilayathalapathy Vijay this Diwali.

Rajinikanth is currently working in K.S. Ravikumar's "Lingaa." Superstar will be donning a dual role in the film, touted to be a commercial entertainer. It will be Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha's debut Tamil film as the female lead opposite Rajinikanth in the big budget entertainer, while "Singam" star Anushka Shetty will play the other heroine's role.

The film's shooting kicked off in the first week of May and first schedule was shot in and around Mysore. The team commenced the second schedule in Ramoji film city, Hyderabad, from 25 May.

Most of the film's shooting will take place in India and two songs might be possibly shot abroad. Its shooting is expected to wrap up by July end or August and director K.S. Ravikumar is planning to do the post-production in two or three months. The film might have a chance to get released as a Diwali treat, reported Sify.

If "Lingaa" makes it to theatres for Diwali, the film will be clashing with Vijay's "Kaththi" which is also gearing up for release during the festival period. "Kaththi" brings back the hit combo of Vijay-Murugadoss nearly after two years. Their last film "Thuppakki" was a big hit and expectations are high for their upcoming film as well. Interestingly, Vijay is also playing a dual role in "Kaththi" which is deemed as an action entertainer.

The film's shooting is progressing well and is expected to be completed by August after which the post-production work will begin in full swing. The film's makers have already announced that the Vijay starrer is slated to hit screens for Diwali.

The clash between "Lingaa" and "Kaththi" will be interesting to see as the films have two of the biggest stars of Tamil cinema in lead roles. Both Rajinikanth and Vijay command a huge fan following worldwide and their films take on good openings in the first weekend.

It will also be a double treat for Tamil cinema lovers as they will witness two big stars locking horns at the box office. But distributors might not be too happy with the clash.

When big films are slated to release around the same time, one of the major issues that they face is screen crunch. Theatres allot almost equal number of screens for biggies hitting theatres at the same time and this reduces the screen count for each film. In turn, it will affect the revenues as they will eat into each other's business. To avoid such issues, popular Tamil film stars have avoided their films clashing with each other.

After several years, two biggies hit the screens on the same day in January this year. Vijay's "Jilla" and Ajith's "Veeram" locked horns and both the films did well at the box office. However, one cannot deny that if these two films had avoided clash it would have improved the business prospects of both the projects.

Considering the issues, the "Lingaa" and "Kaththi" makers might prefer to avoid clash between the films. As of now, there is no official confirmation regarding "Lingaa" release date. An official announcement might give us some clarity as to whether the film will release for Diwali or not.