Joginder Tuteja, Bollywood Trade News Network

For film maker Piyush Jha, it has been one long journey to get his SIKANDAR to theaters. First and foremost it was increasingly difficult for him to get people who would be willing to back his project. Secondly, just when his film was getting ready to release in the month of March earlier this year, the producers announced strike due to which his film had to be placed on backburner. Now he is elated again as his 'suspense thriller' is confirmed for a 21st August release.

Says an official from BIG PICTURES, ''Yes, we have now confirmed the release date as 21st August. It has been a small wait but never mind as we are sure to find an audience.''

What segment of audiences is the film aiming at?

''We are looking at attracting family audiences'', she says, ''SIKANDAR is a first of its kind exploration into the source and antecedents of terrorism. The film is a gripping eye-opener and Piyush has explored a complex subject sensitively.''

For Piyush too it was one big struggle to get the film on floors. Since the film has teenagers as the principle protagonists (Parzaan Dastur and Ayesha Kapur), there weren't many film making houses that were willing to back the project. Even though there are actors like Madhavan and Sanjay Suri as the part of the project, SIKANDAR has the story told through the eyes of the young ones.

''This is where BIG Pictures and Sudhi Mishra came into picture'', says a close associate of Piyush, ''They backed the project because they were bowled over by the film's script. They knew that it had good enough commercial ingredients in it to find an audience in spite of a serious theme in the background.''

Well, looking at the way NEW YORK (which again boasts of a contemporary theme) has clicked with the audience, one certainly hopes that SIKANDAR sees some patronage coming it's way as well.