Mumbai, June 21 (IANS) The release date of ‘I Hate Luv Storys’ is nearing but its lead pair – Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor – cancelled their publicity work and headed abroad to shoot for separate films in Scotland and Mauritius, all thanks to producer Karan Johar.

Imran was in a scheduling jam because of a clash between his under-production film ‘Break Ke Baad’ being filmed in Mauritius and the marketing of ‘I Hate Luv Storys’ in Mumbai.

Meticulous planner that he is, Karan had set aside a large chunk of Imran and Sonam’s dates in June and July for the promotion of ‘I Hate Luv Storys’. But Karan gave away Sonam’s publicity dates for the shooting of Pankaj Kapoor’s ‘Mausam’ in Edinburgh.

Then Kohli requested Karan to let go of Imran’s dates for his first independent production ‘Break Ke Baad’. Karan agreed and Imran marched off to Mauritius to shoot for ‘Break Ke Baad’ which is being directed by Kohli’s assistant Danish Aslam.

Confirming these developments from Mauritius, Kohli said: ‘Yes, Karan sweetly let me have Imran’s dates so that I could complete my schedule in Mauritius. It’s rare for two producers like me and Karan to be friends and do whatever we can to help one another.’

Karan wanted Imran to be back here in the second week of June, but Kohli requested a week more. ‘Karan’s stars do extensive publicity. So he has made quite a sacrifice for me. My film, which would be Imran’s next release, can only benefit from all the publicity for Karan’s film.’

Now Imran and Sonam are back in Mumbai and they are expected to do 19 hours of publicity every day to make up for lost time!

‘Yes, Imran and Sonam joined us from the 20th June. They had promised to really revv up the publicity when they return,’ said Punit Malhotra, director of ‘I Hate Luv Storys’.