Director wants to avoid a showdown with good friend Prakash Jha's upcoming political thriller at the box office

Finally all the speculations over the release of Sudhir Mishra's much talked about film Inkaar are over. The film will release on January 18 and contrary to speculations, the reason behind choosing the date is to make sure there is a proper gap between this film and Prakash Jha's political thriller (October 12).

The two films were earlier slated to release on the same date. Given Mishra's proximity to Jha and Arjun Rampal being a common factor between the two films, hence the new date.

Sudhir Mishra says, `We needed an open week for a film like Inkaar. With big films releases in the remaining three months of the year, we decided to have a new date for release. Incidentally Sanjay Gupta's upcoming gangster film was to release on the same date but will now release on May 1.

The filmmaker adds, `Arjun is a very dear friend and it makes better sense to have at least a couple of months between the release of two films. On the other hand, Chitrangada is among the few who can hold the film on their own.`