This Republic Day saw the audience divided not just over the merits of a film but over communal lines too. When trade figures pour in and the collections of Raees come with "very good in Muslim-dominated areas" in brackets, there's a low feeling in the pit of the stomach. Is this what a different political ideology can do to the audience?

That the Kaabil vs Raees clash would be unpleasant, was already known. While the audience will ultimately measure each film for its worth, the face-off getting communal and personal is an unnecessary fallout.With Raees getting 60 per cent of the theatres, leaving Kaabil with only 40, it did get downright ugly.

It was appreciable when Hrithik reached out to senior colleague Shah Rukh Khan and tweeted, "Dear @iamsrk today as a mentor I'm sure u will inspire me yet again with #Raaes and as a student I hope you are proud of me with #Kaabil." It got retweeted nearly 8,000 times with over 25,000 likes. SRK replied that he wished the "overlap of releases" could've been avoided.

But Hrithik had to also make it clear where he stood over the games played against his father. He tweeted, "Hurt yes. But keeping the grace... and the faith. #I'mWithYouPapa."

While commercial setbacks and box-office encounters are phases that actors and filmmakers will eventually reconcile to, the communal colour it has recently acquired gives one a sense of foreboding.

Last August too, Akshay Kumar's Rustom and Hrithik's Mohenjo Daro had clashed but there was none of this animosity. In fact, Akshay and Twinkle were one of the early arrivals at the special screening of Kaabil that the Roshans had on Monday. It spoke well of the hosts that Sussanne was there with her parents, Zarine and Sanjay Khan, and her sis-in-law Malaika (Zayed Khan's wife). Zayed himself had caught an earlier screening which shows just how close the bonds continue to be.

Anil Kapoor, who has worked with Rakesh Roshan in many films, came wearing a hoodie. His daughter, Sonam, came in a little later and sat with her friends. One keeps using the word "unfortunate" in this clash because most people, Anil for example, are friendly with both the Roshans and the Akhtars (Farhan Akhtar's Excel Entertainment produced Raees ). It's unfair to divide loyalties. In fact, the Roshans had also graciously invited Shabana and Javed to the exclusive screening. With Raju Hirani, Ashutosh Gowariker, David Dhawan and Vidhu Vinod Chopra, it was a packed house.

In this scenario where there's been no personal enmity, this clash should've been averted. Because when Honey Irani (Farhan's mother) had a screening of Raees the next evening, Pinkie Roshan went like a sport and watched it at Yash Raj Films Studios.

But the battle has been bitter.

Worse still, there have been media people who've hailed SRK for playing a Muslim in three consecutive films (Dear Zindagi , Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Raees ), underlining that he was doing his faith a favour. When no actor with a pan-India appeal has ever been called "Muslim actor" or "Hindu actor", is it right to thus whittle down a superstar's popularity and laud him for religious reasons? One wonders if Shah Rukh even planned to play three "Muslim roles" in a row, as the bigoted write-ups seem to suggest. Putting him in a narrow slot for short-term gains is as inadvisable as some intolerant Hindus stopping Nawazuddin Siddiqui from acting in a Ramleela play or a majority fanatic fuming that Salman shouldn't play Lord Ram.

It would be expedient if Shah Rukh recognised the inherent danger in allowing agenda-driven scribes to keep playing up his religious identity. The Khans, Kumars, Roshans and Siddiquis are Indian actors. Period.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author