Bollywood's 10 Biggest I-Day releases

Singham Returns adds to the list.

Bollywood loves to cash in on national holidays, especially three-day weekends, and release their big budget movies on those days.

This Independence Day, we will see Ajay Devgn's Singham Returns release in theatres.

How well have I-Day releases done over the years?

We take a look.

Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara (2013)
Box office collections: Rs 62 crores
Verdict: Below Average

A sequel to immensely popular Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, this Akshay Kumar-Imran Khan starrer managed a very good opening.

But lack of screens (courtesy Chennai Express, which released a week earlier) meant that the Ekta Kapoor production had to make do with what was available.

In any case, this wasn't one of director Milan Luthria's best.

Read the review here

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Box office collections: Rs 199 crores
Verdict: Blockbuster

The most successful Independence Day release ever, Salman Khan's Ek Tha Tiger was as big as it gets.

Yash Raj Films made sure the film was a winner, and Salman and Katrina's chemistry did the rest.

Ek Tha Tiger fell just a crore short of the double century mark and now director Kabir Khan is making Bajrangi Bhaijaan with Salman.

Read the review here

Box office collections: Rs 43 crores
Verdict: Average

An appropriate release, Prakash Jha's Aarakshan was a social drama starring a multitude of stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Manoj Bajpayee and Prateik.

However, the film wasn't as good as Jha's earlier film Raajneeti.

Read the review here

Box office collections: Rs 30 crores
Verdict: Superhit

A surprise hit Peepli [Live] benefited tremendously by producer Aamir Khan's marketing strategy.

This modestly budgeted film with no stars got some great reviews, and went on to do very well with the audience.

Read the review here

Box office collections: Rs 44 crores
Verdict: Semi-Hit

The film took a great opening, and was one of Shahid Kapoor's biggest hits till R... Rajkumar happened last year.

Kaminey's songs were a hit, as was Shahid's chemistry with Priyanka Chopra.

Unfortunately, the actor couldn't capitalise on the kind of turn that he had enjoyed in his career with the film.

Read the review here

Box office collections: Rs 33 crores
Verdict: Hit

Ranbir Kapoor enjoyed early success with this Yash Raj production, directed by Siddharth Anand.

The film was a good looking romcom, thanks to Deepika Padukone, Bipasha Basu and Minissha Lamba.

The music was a huge success as well.

Read the review here

Box office collections: Rs 68 crores
Verdict: Superhit

Shimit Amin's Chak De! India did not have the kind of opening a quintessential Shah Rukh Khan film would enjoy but it found much acceptance from the audiences anyway.

Read the review here

Box office collections: Rs 45 crores
Verdict: Above Average

Yet another Shah Rukh Khan-starrer, KANK was a big release, thanks to its star cast -- including Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukerji and Preity Zinta -- and hotshot director Karan Johar.

It had a good opening at the box office but could not sustain well. Reviews were quite mixed as well.

Still, it did well overall.

Read the review here

Box office collections: Rs 30 crores
Verdict: Below Average

Four years after Aamir Khan's cult success Dil Chahta Hai, Ketan Mehta's Mangal Pandey was in the making for a long time but it never lost the hype.

It took a huge opening -- the biggest ever for a Bollywood outing -- but after that, it all went downhill.

Read the review here

Box office collections: Rs 9 crores
Verdict: Flop

The only Independence Day release in the last decade that wasn't a success was Kyun? Ho Gaya Na...! 

With then real-life couple Vivek Oberoi and Aishwarya Rai coming together for the first time, one expected the romcom to be good, with interesting chemistry. The song Aayo Naa was a hit as well.

However, the film was poor and audience was disinterested.

Read the review here