Less than a couple of months to go and October 20th finds itself to be a much discussed dates in the coming days!

Week of Diwali always brings with it an unprecedented hype about the movies releasing in the closest Friday. 2 years back there was one of the most interesting clash of Veer Zaara [superhit], Aitraaz [hit], Mughal-E-Azam [hit] and Naach [flop]. Last year too there were three films that released in the same period - 'Garam Masala' [hit], 'Shaadi No. 1' [below average] and 'Kyun Ki' [flop]. This year the scene is bigger and better with both 'Don - The Chase Begins Again' and 'Jaan-E-Mann' firmly placed to fight amongst them, though indications are that both should prove to be big hits.

While Neeraj Vora directed Arjun Rampal-Dia Mirza starrer 'Familywala' doesn't really seem to be a probable release on the same day due to tough competition, one is not sure about the release of 'Umrao Jaan'. Though there have been speculations galore during last 48 hours about its actual release day [while there were murmurs about film being postponed, film maker J.P. Dutta insists it is indeed October 20th], one wonders about the impact of the decision!

It's a known fact today that the film's opening week holds most weight [in fact more than 50% of the collections from an entire run come from first week itself for a biggie]! For this the magic formula is to flood the market with as many prints as possible. Gone are the days when 300+ prints were considered good. Now it is the 500+ count that drives the show. With neither 'Don' nor 'Jaan-E-Mann' being the kind of flicks that would settle for anything less than 500 each, where does that leave 'Umrao Jaan' for which even the publicity has not yet begun and also doesn't really boast of any hype or buzz whatsoever?

If Dutta is waiting for some publicity blitzkrieg to begin with a splash then well, that splash needs to happen sooner than later. In an age of on-your-face-publicity where one just can't afford to miss a single opportunity to reach out to the audience, just 7 more weeks to go for a film's release without any news is quite surprising.

This brings one to the question if 'Umrao Jaan' is indeed releasing on October 20th? And even if it does, would it come on the number of prints that could take it past the safety mark in a couple of weeks itself?

Or would the movie create more impact if it releases a couple of weeks after 'Diwali', though before 'Dhoom 2' that arrives on November 24th to avoid a clash?

In a game of wait and watch, this indeed is becoming a painful, though interesting watch!