Hoping for best: Sidharth Malhotra on 'Aiyaary', 'Pad Man' clash

Mumbai: Actor Sidharth Malhotra, who plays a pivotal role in "Aiyaary", feels the clash between the movie and Akshay Kumar's "Pad Man" could have been avoided. But he says he can only hope for the best now. "Aiyaary", which has a patriotic vibe, was originally slated for release on January 25 to make the most of the long Republic Day weekend. It was clashing with "Pad Man". IN PICS: Sonam Kapoor turns ‘Pad Woman’; distributes sanitary napkins to girls during ‘Pad Man’ promotions! But after "Padmaavat" got a final release date of January 25, the makers of "Aiyaary" moved its release to February 9 to avoid clashing with it and "Pad Man" However, Akshay Kumar, as a move in support of Sanjay Leela Bhansali and to let "Padmaavat" get a solo release, shifted "Pad Man" to February 9, bringing the situation back to square one -- clashing with "Aiyaary". Asked about it, Sidharth told IANS here: "Yes, it irritates, but now it's too late. What can we do now? Look, we announced the date first. When 'Pad Man' makers unveiled their release date, we were gracious enough to shift our release date to avoid the clash. ‘Padman’s ‘Hu Ba Hu’ song captures Akshay, Sonam’s beautiful journey "This situation could have resolved earlier, people could have stuck to their dates, respecting others' space. I was not expecting the makers of 'Pad Man' to release their film with us, especially the second time. We thought we will get a solo release. "See, eventually the fate of the film will speak for itself. We are confident about our film, it has its audience. Now that we cannot change anything, we can hope for the best." In "Aiyaary", Sidharth plays an Army officer who has an ideological difference with another senior officer, played by Manoj Bajpayee. The movie also features Rakul Preet Singh, Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah.