While the trade knew about Dinesh Vijan’s film on premature balding, Bala, even as it was being made, not many were aware that Kumar Mangat Pathak was producing a film with a similar subject. Pathak’s Ujda Chaman took the trade by surprise when he earlier this week, announced it with its trailer and release date. In a bid to beat Bala in its race to the cinemas, Ujda Chaman has been slated to hit the screens a week before Vijan’s film. While Bala will release on 15th November, Ujda Chaman will come on 8th November. Interestingly, Bala was to have releaÂsed on 22nd November but only very recently, its release was advanced by a week. There were two reasons for the change in release date of Bala: firstly, the Vicky Kaushal starrer, Bhoot, which was slated to release on 15th November, was moved ahead to 2020, leaving that date without any major release. Secondly, alongside Bala on 22nd November was scheduled Pagalpanti, starring Anil KapÂoor and John Abraham and directed by Anees Bazmee. Actually, when Dinesh Vijan announced his film on 22nd November, the release of Pagalpanti had been slated for 8th November. But Pagalpanti got postponed by two weeks when John Abraham gave away the 8th November date to friends Nikhil Advani and Milap Milan Zaveri for their Marjaavaan. Rather than clash with Pagalpanti, Vijan thought, it was more prudent to let his film come solo on 15th November. After all this merry-go-round of releases, the release pattern that has emerged is: Bala will now come one week after Ujda Chaman. Incidentally, Abhishek Pathak, son of Kumar Mangat Pathak, has turned director with Ujda Chaman.
Interestingly, a writer had dragged Dinesh Vijan to court, alleging that the concept of Bala was his. The exact details of how the case panned out in court are not known but the fact that the film is due for early release suggests that Vijan has not gotten into copyright hassles.