Karan Johar does good friend Ekta Kapoor a favour; postpones release of Ayan Mukerji-helmed film

Dharma Productions’ Ayan Mukerji-directed film Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani that stars Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone was originally slated for release on 29 March (2013). However, Karan Johar has now decided to postpone the release date to 31 May. The reason is that Karan doesn’t want a clash with good friend Ekta Kapoor whose Lootera is scheduled to hit theatres on the same day. As is known that it is not a good idea to release two big films on the same day; one eats into the other’s business and importantly, the audience gets divided. Since the shooting of Lootera is almost through, Ekta Kapoor was contemplating attaching the promo of her film with Student of the Year. However, the plan failed. On the other hand, the shoot of Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani will be completed by November except for a song that will be shot in January. Lootera, co-produced by Balaji Telefilms and Phantom Productions, was earlier supposed to release in February but because of Ranveer Singh's unavailability for promotions, with his dates having already been allotted to Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Ram Leela, the film got pushed to 29 March. But even after Karan having postponed the release of Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani to 31 May, doesn’t clear the road for Lootera completely as the Ajay Devgn starrer Himmatwala already slotted for release that day.