Kartik Aaryan’s latest film Shehzada released in theaters on February 17, 2023 and faced a tough clash against Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan and the latest Marvel film, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The film was earlier slated for release a week earlier, but was pushed ‘out of respect’ for King Khan’s spy-thriller film.
Recently, Kartik Aaryan revealed who made the call to push the release date of Shehzada by a week. Speaking to RJ Siddharth Kannan, the actor said that releasing the film at the time when Pathaan was already emerging as a massive blockbuster at the box-office did not seem right to the producers.
Kartik Aaryan told Siddharth Kanan, “I am a fan on Shah Rukh sir so I felt good when the decision to shift was taken. When a film is about to release, I’m saying one is big the other is small, I’m saying the film is already running. That film has worked really well.”
“To release the film then didn’t seem correct to the producers so they took a call to just delay it by a week which didn’t seem difficult. We went ahead with it," the actor was quoted as saying during his interaction.
Answering whether he has watched Pathaan, Kartik Aaryan, “Maine dekhi, I also reacted to it. Mujhe toh bohut acchi lagi. Kaafi acchi lagi mujhe. Mujhe infact Shah Rukh-Salman sir saath mein dekhne ka mauka mila bohut time baad woh mereko bohut zada acha laga.”
Released on Friday last week, Shehzada has performed underwhelmingly at the box-office. The film managed to collect Rs 6 crore on Day 1, Rs 6.5 crore on Day 2 and Rs 7.5 (approximately) on Day 3 of its release, taking its weekend total to approximately Rs 19.55 crore.
Reportedly, Kartik Aaryan took no fees for Shehzada owing to the film going through a financial crisis. The actor turned producer for this film.