A lucky and auspicious time for movie releases in the past, what lies in Happy New Year’s future
This Diwali, Shah Rukh Khan’s Happy New Year will hit the box office with a bang. Releasing as the numero uno film this Diwali, it is said to see the biggest release for a Bollywood film yet. Logically, it is important for big budget films to plan their release during festival time.
Also, there is an unspoken pact between the 3 King Khans of the industry. While SRK has been owning the Diwali season since the release of Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge in 1995, Amir Khan supposedly chooses Christmas and Eid is for Salman.
In 2012, Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgan relived their 1993 clash over Baazigar and Bedardi with SRK’sJab Tak Hai Jaan clashing with Ajay Devgan’s Son of Sardaar. Directed by Yash Raj, Jab Tak Hai Jaan also starred Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma; whereas. Son of Sardaar was directed by Ashwni Dhir and also starred Sonakshi Sinha, Juhi Chawla and Sanjay Dutt. While both films received mixed to average reviews, SRK’s film fared better than Ajay Devgan’s.
In year 2011, SRK was back in action again in Ra.One. Directed by Anubhav Sinha, it also starred Arjun Rampal and Kareena Kapoor. A solo release, the film went live on October 26 worldwide. However, the film only had an average response from critics.
Golmaal 3 and Action Replayy locked horns on the Diwali of 2010. While the former was directed by Rohit Shetty and starred Mithun Chakraborty, Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade and Kunal Khemu; the latter was directed by Vipul Shah, and starred Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai, Neha Dhupia and Aditya Roy Kapoor. The two released on November 5. While Golmaal 3 is currently ranked as the second highest grossing Bollywood film of 2010, Action Replay flopped at the box office.
Though the year 2009 saw the release of three Bollywood movies, All the Best, Blue and Main Aur Mrs. Khanna on October 16, it was only All the Best that managed to impress critics. The movie starred Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Sanjai Mishra, Fardeen Khan, Bipasha Basu and Mugdha Godse and was directed by Rohit Shetty.
2008’s Diwali brought in two films on October 29that would both become box office successes: Golmaal Returns and Fashion. Rohit Shetty’s Golmaal Returns had the cast of Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Celina Jaitley, Arshad Warsi, Shreyas Talpade, Tusshar Kapoor, Anjana Sukhani and Amrita Arora. A Madhur Bhandarkar directorial success, Fashion had in its cast Priyanka Chopra, Kangna Ranaut, Mugdha Godse, Samir Soni, Arbaaz Khan and Arjan Bajwa.
In 2007 two films released on November 9. One was Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om, starring Shah Rukh Khan , Deepika Padukone and also Arjun Rampal, Shreyas Talpade, and Kirron Kher, along with 46 other famous celebrities appearing throughout the movie. The movie became the highest grossing hindi film of all time, blowing away its competitor, Saawariya. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya was a debut for Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor. They were joined by Salman Khan, Rani Mukerji and Zohra Sehgal. The film had high expectations but did not do very well.
2006 again proved a good year for SRK. His movie, Don, which released along with Jaan-E-Mann in October 20, did very well at the box office.
Farhan Akhtar’s Don also had in its cast Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Rampal, Isha Koppikar and Boman Irani. It would become the fifth highest grossing film of 2006.
In 2005, Priyadarshan’s Garam Masala starring Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, PareshRawal, Rimi Sen, Neha Dhupia apart from others was declared a blockbuster. On the other hand, Kyon Ki, which released on the same day, flopped. The two movies released on November 2.
in November 12, 2004 two films were released and both received positive reviews. One was Veer-Zaara and another Aitraaz. Veer-Zaara had in its cast Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukerji, apart from others. On the other hand, Abbas-Mustan’s Aitraaz had Akshay Kumar, Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Amrish Puri and others.
In 2003, Pinjar released on October 24. Directed by Chandra Prakash Dwivedi, it stars Urmila Matondkar, Manoj Bajpai and Sanjay Suri in the lead roles. Besides critical acclaim, the film also won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration.
2002 saw a flop in the form of Talat Jani’s Jeena Sirf Mere Liye released in November 20 and the year 2001 saw no big releases. However, we all remember SRK’s Mohabbatein
which clashed with Mission Kashmir on October 27.
Aditya Chopra’s Mohabbatein had the cast of Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Uday Chopra, Jugal Hansraj, Jimmy Shergill apart from others. Apart from receiving positive reviews, it also became the second highest grossing Hindi film of the year at the domestic box office. Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Mission Kashmir, too received positive reviews and did farely well. It featured Sanjay Dutt, Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zinta and Sonali Kulkarni in the cast.
Diwali has historically been a great and auspicious time for stars to debut, release their career-shaping movies and enter Bollywood with a bang. Shah Rukh’s 1993 DDLJ is proof of that. Let’s hope Happy New Year proves to be a success, too.