Atlee and Varun Dhawan's mass-actioner Baby John will release in theatres around Christmas. The film might face a tough competition from Allu Arjun's Pushpa 2, which is creating havoc in terms of box office numbers in India and abroad. When asked about the impending big clash, Atlee told media he knows how to handle this situation. He added, Allu Arjun called Varun and him to congratulate them on the trailer.
Atlee said at a press conference in Mumbai, "It's an ecosystem. Me and Allu Arjun sir are very good friends. We're releasing Baby John in the fourth week of December, not head-to-head. So don't call it a clash. There's no conflict here. We're aware that Pushpa 2 shifted from August to December, and we've planned our release around Christmas. We're all professionals, and we know how to handle this."
Talking about Allu Arjun, Atlee revealed, "He congratulated me about the film and spoke to Varun. There's great friendship and love in this ecosystem."
Pushpa 2, which has already beat Shah Rukh Khan's Jawan, Pathaan, Sunny Deol's Gadar 2's gigantic box office collections, is a few crores away from Rs 1000 crore at the domestic box office. The Hindi version of Pushpa 2, according to trade website Sacnilk, surpassed the Rs 600-crore mark in India after 14 day of its release.
Slated for a Christmas release on December 25, Baby John features Varun Dhawan, Keerthy Suresh, Wamiqa Gabbi, Jackie Shroff and Rajpal Yadav in pivotal roles. The film is a remake of Vijay's blockbuster Theri. That film was also directed by Atlee. Baby John is produced by Priya Atlee, Murad Khetani and Jyoti Deshpande.