Salman Snatches Shah Rukh's Favourite Release Date; Will SRK React?

The buzz around the Salman Khan-Shah Rukh Khan rivalry refuses to cease as reports have hinted at a probable date clash between their films.

The release date of Salman's upcoming film with Sooraj Barjatya - "Prem Ratan Dhan Payo" (PRDP), which is set to start shooting from June, has been set for Diwali 2015, reported Bollywood Hungama. The family drama, also featuring Sonam Kapoor, will be backed by Fox Studios and Rajshri Productions together.

The news comes as a delight to several Salman fans, who will now get to see their superstar's film on the festive occasion. But it should be noted that the "Dabangg" star's usual preference for his films' release is during Eid. Most of the actor's films have released during Eid and proved to be successful at the box office.

Meanwhile, the Diwali slot has been a favourite for Salman's archrival Shah Rukh, whose films have released in that particular time over the years, with the exception of last year's "Chennai Express" which released during Eid.

It is now assumed that Salman's decision to release "PRDP" for Diwali 2015 instead of Eid is a deliberate move to take on SRK.

It remains to be seen whether Shah Rukh will hit back and position his upcoming project on the same date as "PRDP". The actor has Rahul Dholakia's "Raees" and YRF's "Fan", which are both set to release next year.

But it can be safely said that the actors are unlikely to cross each other's paths this year, since Salman's "Kick" is scheduled on 25 July, whereas SRK's "Happy New Year" is up for a Diwali release in October.

Meanwhile, Salman has gone one up over SRK, in terms of popularity on social networking site Facebook. The former's Facebook page currently has 16 million likes compared to SRK, whose fan following is only half of it with around 8.7 million likes.

The development is quite surprising since SRK is undoubtedly more active on the social networking sites, compared to Salman. The "Don" actor, however, fares a little better than Salman on Twitter, where he has 7.74 million followers against Salman's 6.96 million.

Veteran Amitabh Bachchan beats the two superstars easily on both Facebook and Twitter as he has a massive fan base with 12 million likes and 8.84 million followers respectively. Even comedian Kapil Sharma towers over the two superstars with 10 million likes on his official Facebook page.