Sources say that Shah Rukh Khan and Yashraj Films were totally taken aback and were not prepared for this type of assault on their big budget film from Aamir Khan. The insiders say that the whole idea was planned by the perfectionist Aamir Khan himself and discussed with the producers in a hush hush manner.

The idea appealed to the producers and they decided to approach the reputed chain of multiplexes like Big Cinemas, Cinemax and PVR to implement this strategy. Once they successfully tied up with these prestigious multiplex groups, now was the tougher part of implanting them.

The deal envisaged that all the employees of multiplexes from ushers to booking clerk would have to cut their hair in typical Aamir Khan’s ‘Ghajini’ style. The important thing in all this was that the employees had to do it voluntarily and not forcibly.

Fortunately for Aamir Khan, the ‘Ghajini’ style of hair cut had already found favour with the masses and so there was not much effort needed to convince these employees to don that particular look.

The industry watchers see this offensive from Aamir Khan’s side as an innovative step but more like an ‘ambush marketing’ keeping in mind the release of Shah Rukh Khan’s film at the multiplexes. However, insiders point out that Aamir Khan, as always, is least perturbed by his marketing strategy harming Shah Rukh’s film. Instead, he is glad that the multiplexes have given his film preference over SRK’s film.

It may be recalled that the intense rivalry between Aamir and Shah Rukh is nothing new and has been a continuing phenomenon between the two-bollywood giants. Earlier, Aamir Khan had written on his blog that ‘Shah Rukh was licking his feet’ and later clarified that Shah Rukh was the name of his dog. This had created a furore but somehow matter was amicably resolved mainly due to magnanimity of SRK.

Amir had even sided with Salman Khan and not Shah Rukh Khan, when there was a fight between SRK and Salman. But this time Aamir Khan seems to have made an enemy of Yashraj Films too, because ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ is its film and has been directed by Aditya Chopra. But sources close to Aamir say that the perfectionist Khan has left no stone unturned to make Ghajini a treat for his fans. Earlier he managed to convince the makers of Ghajini to make a quick trip to South Africa for shooting just a four-minute song.

A source tells us, “Aamir was shooting in South Africa a few months back for some important scenes and a duet number. But during the shooting of action scenes, Aamir encountered a leg injury and he had to rush back to India. The duet number, which was to be shot on him and debutante Asin, was left to be picturised. But then after Aamir got back in shape he expressed his wish to the makers that they should again go back to South Africa to shoot the pending duet. By then almost the entire shoot of the film was over. But since Aamir insisted the producers were left with no choice but take the crew to South Africa in a special chartered flight.”

“Aamir is known for his secrecy concerning plots of his films and his character but this time he made a limit by even keeping the shooting location of the film a secret for the crew members right till they reached South Africa. Everything was kept hush hush and even after shooting the song the crew members were told not to disclose anything.” the source adds.

“Ghajini’s director, AR Murugadoss was a bit hesitant initially as it would escalate the cost but Aamir convinced him that he wanted nothing but the best for the film and for that reason alone, the director had no choice but to relent.” concludes the source.

Ghajini starring Aamir Khan, Asin, Jiah Ali Khan is releasing on December 25th worldwide with over 1500 prints let us see what happens and who wins the race at the box office –SRK or Aamir.