However, Vijay’s Kaalamellam Kaathiruppen was a profitable super hit film. Released for Pongal, Ajith’s Nesam suffered losses in the box office. Tracing this trend, we have put together a list of the actors’ prior box office clashes.

While many believe that such clashes between the duo can be dated back to 2001, when their fan clubs had engaged in a verbal war as their films Friends (starring Vijay) and Dheena (starring Ajith) released together and ran successfully, some others believe that the rivalry began as early as in 1996, when the actors were still grappling to carve a name for themselves in the industry. Now that both the stars’ films have been scheduled for a simultaneous Pongal release after an eight-year gap, the anticipation is running high among fans. Meanwhile, Varisu also had to face legal scrutiny for shooting with elephants without submitting prior notice to the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI). This, however, had to be delayed after the Telugu producers’ council issued a notice to theatre owners to restrict new Telugu dubbed releases for Sankranti, in order to allot more screens for Chiranjeevi’s Waltair Veerayya and Nandamuri Balakrishna’s Veera Simha Reddy. The film’s release was initially scheduled for Sankranti this year alongside Adipurush, starring Prabhas, Kriti Sanon and Saif Ali Khan. Among the two, Varisu is coming to theatres after facing a number of roadblocks along the way.

Ajith old telugu movies list