Bollywood's BIGGEST CLASHES on Independence Day

Box office clashes have been common for years now. That is, until the pandemic struck.

Now, the number of big movies releasing has reduced drastically.

This Independence Day weekend, there are two big movies releasing on OTT: Bhuj - The Pride of India and Shershaah.

While the Ajay Devgn starrer releases on Disney+Hotstar on August 13, the Sidharth Malhotra movie releases a day earlier on Amazon Prime Video.

Both films have a patriotic flavour as they are based on two armed forces officers, who took on Pakistan in 1971 and in the Kargil War of 1999 respectively.

Joginder Tuteja looks at the big clashes on the Independence Day weekend in the last decade.

 

2019
Mission Mangal
Box office collection: Rs 203 crore
Batla House
Box office collection: Rs 99.50 crore

There were no releases in 2020, but the year before that saw Akshay Kumar and John Abraham clash with each other on Independence Day.

While Mission Mangal was about India's space mission, Batla House told the true story of a terrorist encounter in Delhi.

Both films became hits and while Akshay scored his first double century with Mission Mangal, John narrowly missed out on scoring a solo century with Batla House.

 

2018
Gold
Box office collection: Rs 105 crore
Satyameva Jayate
Box office collection: Rs 90 crore

Akshay and John, who are friends in real life, clashed the year before that as well when Gold and Satyameva Jayate arrived on the same day.

Both films had their own target audience.

While Gold was a sports film set in the period era and catered to the class audience, Satyameva Jayate was a massy cop drama with John playing a vigilante and Manoj Bajpayee as his elder cop brother.

Again, both films scored well theatrically.

 

2017
Toilet - Ek Prem Katha
Box office collection: Rs 134.25 crore
Jab Harry Met Sejal
Box office collection: Rs 64.50 crore

Akshay has been a regular on the Independence Day weekend, and he released his message on Swachh Bharat -- Toilet - Ek Prem Katha -- on the occasion.

There was a direct clash at the box office as Shah Rukh Khan had released Jab Harry Met Sejal a week earlier.

Toilet did double the business of the latter. Imitaz Ali's romantic musical was a major flop.

 

2016
Rustom
Box office collection: Rs 128 crore
Mohenjo Daro
Box office collection: Rs 58.50 crore

The year before, Akshay was challenged by Hrithik Roshan when the latter decided to release his Mohenjo Daro on the same day as Rustom.

Ashutosh Gowariker's period drama was a major flop despite being a decent film whereas the real life story of Rustom (with a bit of fiction added) turned out to be a major success and did double the business.

2015
Brothers
Box office collection: Rs 85 crore

In 2015, Akshay had a solo arrival for his film, Brothers.

A two-hero film with Sidharth Malhotra, this sports-family drama was a Karan Johar production with Karan Malhotra (Agneepath) as the director.

The film did decent business at the box office, but the high production costs meant that it couldn't really cover the distance.

 

2014
Singham Returns
Box office collection: Rs 140 crore

Ajay Devgn's only film release on the Independence Day weekend, besides Bhuj, has been Singham Returns.

The film took a bumper start at the box office, and it was also the best ever for Ajay Devgn.

Directed by Rohit Shetty, it went on to earn a lot of moolah at the box office.

 

2013
Chennai Express
Box office collection: Rs 227 crore
Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara!
Box office collection: Rs 61 crore

Until a few weeks before their release, Shah Rukh and Akshay Kumar were expected to clash on the Independence Day holiday.

Trade analysts felt that if their films arrived in different weeks, it would benefit everyone.

So Chennai Express arrived a week before Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara! and turned out to be a massive blockbuster. Akshay, however, felt the heat, as his gangster movie didn't go too far.

 

2012
Ek Tha Tiger
Box office collection: Rs 199 crore
Gangs of Wasseypur -- Part 2
Box office collection: Rs 23 crore

In 2012, Eid and Independence Day arrived on the same date, and so Salman Khan's Ek Tha Tiger took a blockbuster start at the box office.

It narrowly missed the Rs 200 crore club.

The film that challenged it at the box office, albeit a week later, was Gangs of Wasseypur -- Part 2.

The Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer did fair business, but Ek Tha Tiger was too much of a competition to withstand.

 

2011
Aarakshan
Box office collection: Rs 43 crore
Phhir
Box office collection: Rs 2 crore

Two films belonging to different genres arrived on the Independence Day weekend in 2011.

While Aarakshan was a socio-political drama, Phhir was a mystery thriller.

Prakash Jha aimed to take the Raajneeti mode forward with this big star cast film featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone and Manoj Bajpayee.

The film did average business at the box office.

The Rajneesh Duggal, Adah Sharma and Roshni Chopra starrer Phhir was a major disaster commercially.