Mumbai, Oct 16 (IANS) Shooting down rumours he had to pay Rs.50 lakh to jump the queue of releases, director Rohit Shetty says the Diwali release slot got empty after 'Aladin' was postponed and created an an opening for his comic caper 'All The Best'.

'When 'Aladin' was postponed, we got an opening and we decided to release in Diwali. We didn't have to pay any money to advance,' Shetty told IANS.

'We never planned 'All The Best' as a Diwali product. The colourful, light, frothy ambience just happened. It's my cleanest comedy since the first 'Golmaal' film. The other 'Golmaal' had some double meanings. But 'All The Best' is totally free of risque elements,' he added.

Starring Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan, Bipasha Basu and Mugdha Godse, the film hit the screens Friday.

Shetty is all praise for Sanjay and says that the actor took keen interest in every aspect of the film.

'You can't help being protective and affectionate about Sanjay. Once he accepts a film, he adopts the whole unit. Sanjay was more like the producer of 'All The Best' than Ajay Devgn.

'In the evenings Ajay, Fardeen and the rest of the gang would be chilling out in Goa while Sanjay would sit with me poring over the next day's schedule. He was bothered about everything - from the food for the unit to my travel plans. Whenever I had to leave Goa for Mumbai, he would be anxious about my return flight,' he said.

Sanjay's character in 'All The Best' is named Dharam after the actor's business manager Dharam Oberoi.

The young director says Sanjay signs films for emotional reasons. 'And it's the director's moral duty to make sure his presence is justified. In 'All The Best', Sanjay is the main protagonist.'

'All The Best' has released with two more films - 'Blue' and 'Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna'. Shetty hopes all three Diwali releases do well.

'I certainly want 'Blue' to do very well. Its producer Asthvinayak are also the producers of my 'Golmaal' series. So their success is by proxy beneficial to my film.'