The Telugu film ‘Bahubali 2’ aside, the Hindi Film Industry doesn’t have much to show so far this year. The biggest hit of the year so far is Varun Dhawan’s ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhania’, followed by ‘Hindi Medium’. The other clean-hit this year is Akshay Kumar’s ‘Jolly LLB 2’. Almost all other films have under-performed, with the industry’s highest grosser – Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees – just about managing to cross the 130 crore mark at the domestic box office.
All eyes, yet again, will be on Salman Khan and his much-awaited Eid release ‘Tubelight’. The track-record of the megastar during Eid is outstanding to say the least. All his films from 2010 (Dabangg) to 2016 (Sultan) have been blockbusters or better.
Each year the industry looks forward to the Eid period to get its biggest grosser and Salman, in the last 6 years, hasn’t disappointed. (Note: Shah Rukh Khan took the Eid weekend in 2013 and delivered the industry’s highest grosser)
Check out the list of highest grosser before and after Eid!
| Year | Before Eid | Salman's Eid |
| 2010 | Raajneeti (93 cr) | Dabangg (141 cr) |
| 2011 | Ready (120 cr) | Bodyguard (145 cr) |
| 2012 | Rowdy Rathore (134 cr) | Ek Tha Tiger (199 cr) |
| 2014 | Holiday (113 cr) | Kick (233 cr) |
| 2015 | Tanu Weds Manu Returns (151 cr) | Bajrangi Bhaijaan (321 cr) |
| 2016 | Airlift (129 cr) | Sultan (301 cr) |
| 2017 | Raees (131 cr) | Tubelight |
It’s a foregone conclusion that ‘Tubelight’ will beat the record of ‘Raees’ in 5 days or less to become the highest Hindi grosser of 2016. But the big question is going to be the difference. The last couple of years have been phenomenal for Salman, both in terms of the opening as well as the lifetime collections of his films. Even a film like ‘Sultan’ which carried average word-of-mouth and did not trend as well as ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’, went on to collect 301 crore at the domestic box office.
If the emotions in ‘Tubelight’ work, then we could see yet another film this year that could challenge the record of Aamir Khan’s ‘Dangal’.