It's no secret that Karan Johar and Ajay Devgn have never been great buddies. In fact, there's a marked disdain for each other with most remarks uttered off the record by both.

So you can imagine the undercurrent that's going to hot up the Diwali weekend when Karan's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Ajay's Shivaay clash on the same day at the box-office. Both men have produced and directed their respective films, raising the ante even more.

For the moment, Ajay has stolen a march over Karan by being the first to call a few people to come and watch the trailer of his film with him. The venue was The View, above Hard Rock Café in Andheri, the new option for film people who want a preview theatre that has huge comfortable seats, a lobby with neat seating and a large screen where something's always going on while you wait. There's also popcorn and coffee on tap and the mandatory counter for plenty of food.

The promo of Shivaay will be available online and officially released in Indore today, ironically on Friendship Day. Shivaay is such a vintage Devgn film full of racy action with touches of tenderness that it's more about bone-crunching than shaking hands with friends.

"There's a lot of action but we've kept it very real," remarked Ajay who shot the film in Bulgaria with a spell in our own Himalayas.

There's mountain air freshness, cars screeching and knuckles breaking, and romance with Dilip Kumar's granddaughter Sayyeshaa making her acting debut opposite Ajay.

"Was it like Liam Neeson's Taken ?" a curious Devgn fan asked me later.

The promo of Shivaay certainly doesn't reveal that. Even if there is a Taken-type kidnap in it, Ajay has made a Hindi film with Lord Shiva as his inspiration. Can't imagine Liam Neeson mouthing "Om Namah Shivaya " with fervour, can you?

It's been mentioned before in this column that Devgn is a devout Shiv bhakt whose bungalow is also named Shiv Shakti.

Like Amish's devotion to Shiva resulted in the hit Meluha trilogy, Ajay Devgn's strong faith has resulted in strong lines about the power of "Shankar" whose retribution can be "bhayankar". The promo ends with a well-delivered piece in the background in Devgn's voice. It combines traditional Shiva chants with lyricist Sandeep Shrivastava's specially penned lines and packs a verbal punch.

Many years ago, Ajay had changed the spelling of his surname to Devgn. "My mother asked me to. I did it and I'm comfortable with it," he had shrugged at that time.

His banner Ajay Devgn Ffilms now has two "f"s. Armed with that spelling and the blessings of his favourite god, Ajay hopes to deliver a double whammy this time - as filmmaker and actor.

"This Diwali there will be destruction," promises the poster of Shivaay . With Karan Johar releasing his romantic musical the same day, there'll be fireworks for sure.

Moving to a completely different subject, the seven-year rigorous imprisonment that has been pronounced on Oxford-educated Mahmood Farooqui, the co-director of Peepli Live , by a Delhi court, brings back memories of his wife Anusha Rizvi. Although it has nothing to do with the rape case for which Farooqui has been sentenced, the couple does have a way of making news for wrong reasons.

In 2010, when Peepli Live was produced, promoted and released by Aamir Khan in a manner no small film could dream to get, director Anusha had a strange way of repaying the actor for his strong backing. Astonishingly, instead of gratitude, she'd badmouthed him and his fantastic marketing of the film. If anybody printed her comments or telecast them, it was solely because of the fame that had come to her courtesy Aamir. But she chose to follow up the release of Peepli Live by criticising him. And Aamir had responded with gracious silence, never once running down either Anusha or Mahmood. Irrespective of what they're worth and their body of work, six years later, they're still best known as the directors of Peepli Live . The proof is in the media reports of the rape case and the jail term. Every publication, channel and online site draws attention to the case by referring to Mahmood Farooqui only as the co-director of the film.

It's a good time to remind Anusha that a little bit of gratitude would not have been out of place six years ago.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author