Emraan Hashmi's Cheat India avoids clash with Manikarnika and Thackeray, will now release on THIS dateJan 4 (AZINS) It was going to be a three way clash at the box office this Republic Day. Kangana Ranaut's Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi, Nawazuddin Siddiqui's Thackeray and Emraan Hashmi's Cheat India were to battle it out at the ticket windows on January 25, 2019. But looks like that won't happen any more as the three way clash has finally been averted.

The makers of Cheat India and Thackeray came together for a press conference on Friday wherein it was announced that Emraan Hashmi starrer Cheat India will not clash with Thackeray on January 25. In fact, the film will now hit the theatres a week earlier on January 18. This means that now Kangana's Manikarnika and Nawaz's biopic on Balasaheb Thackeray will battle it out at the box office on January 25.

Emraan Hashmi took to his Twitter account to make the official announcement with a poster of the film. He wrote along side, "I cheated !! My film #Cheatindia will release one week earlier.. 18th jan 2019 !! See you in the theatres"

The producer of Thackeray, Sanjay Raut had earlier told Mumbai Mirror, "I can't stop other filmmakers from releasing their films on the same weekend, but no matter how many films come up against us, the country is waiting for Thackeray. Nawazuddin Siddiqui has played him extremely well and while people are aware that Balasaheb was a politician, cartoonist and an orator, we are showcasing his rise from a common man to a superman which makes for interesting viewing. We were the first to announce the release and I’m not going to shift the date come what may."

On the other hand, the co-producer of Cheat India, Tanuj Garg was quoted as saying, "Our title and theme organically lend themselves to the Republic Day weekend." Looks like the makers have finally realised that box office clashes don't prove fruitful for the films in question generally.