It was expected to be a clash of the Titans on the Tamil New Year's Day.

Rajnikanth's Chandramukhi, Kamal Haasan's Mumbai Express, Vijay's Sachin, Vikram's Anniyan were tipped for release on Tamil New Year's Day.

Unfortunately, Anniyan seems to have opted out of the race.

The movie directed by Shankar starring Vikram in the lead role had been in the making for over a year.

Though the movie was to be released on 14 April, sources close to Shankar said, due to non-availability of theatres owing to the expected release of Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan's films on the same day, Anniyan has been deferred by another month.

The movie would be released in mid May.'

However few say, since it is a big-budget movie, the producer Oscar Ravichandran doesn't want to risk his investment by releasing it on 14 April along with Chandramukhi. Hence he has opted for a late release.

Anyhow, Vikram fans have to wait a bit more to see their star on screen.

In fact, there is also a talk in the industry (though nothing official about it) that Rajni and Kamal should clash on the same day. "They will be only shortchanging themselves," feels Kollywood.

So one of them may be asked to pull out of the race.