The release date of the much-awaited Rajinikanth-starrer "Kochadaiiyaan" has been pushed ahead once again. The team was racing against time, says its co-producer Murali Manohar.

The movie was due to release Friday, but it has now been rescheduled to hit the screens May 23.

When asked to explain the unexpected turn of events, Manohar said: "Yes, unfortunately we are not ready to release this Friday. We were racing against time."

The news, though a big blow to eager Rajinikanth fans, comes as welcome respite to the six other Hindi releases this week - "Hawaa Hawaai", "Khwabb", "Mastram", "Koyelaanchal", "Manjunath" and "Yeh Hai Bakrapur".