The Independence Day has historically been a huge weekend for the Hindi film industry. The most iconic film of all time – Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay – released on this very day exactly 41 years ago. Even after nearly 4 decades, the lead hero of the film, the evergreen Amitabh Bachchan remains one of the busiest actors in the industry.
In the last 10 years, 12 Hindi films (small films were not taken into consideration) have released during the weekend. Both the biggest grosser and the lowest grosser of the Independence Day weekend belong to Salman Khan. It goes to show the phenomenal rise of the superstar in the last few years. Back then, not only did a film featuring a one-film-old Ranbir Kapoor release on the same day as a Salman starrer, but it held the upper hand and quite easily won the box office clash.
8 year later, Salman is the undisputed biggest star in the industry and even a top star like Shah Rukh Khan had to postpone his keenly-awaited film ‘Raees’ to let ‘Sultan’ take centre stage.
Rustom will be Akshay Kumar’s first success during the Independence Day weekend, his last two films during the same period – Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Dobaara and Brothers – were huge failures at the ticket window.
Chak De India is probably the best and most acclaimed film to release during the ‘freedom weekend’ in the last 10 years. The film did not take a huge start at the box office, but went on to be a blockbuster with incredible word-of-mouth. For a lot of people, it could be the career-best film of Shah Rukh Khan.
Top 5 Independence Day Grossers:
- Ek Tha Tiger – 199.6 crore
- Singham Returns – 140.2 crore
- Rustom – Still running, will take the third film
- Brothers – 82.7 crore
- Chak De India – 67.7 crore (would’ve more than tripled if it released today)
| Movie | India | Overseas | Verdict | Star |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chak De India (2007) | 67.7 cr | 26 cr | Blockbuster | SRK |
| Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008) | 38.1 cr | 18 cr | Abv Average | Ranbir, Deepika |
| God Tussi Great Ho (2008) | 13.5 cr | 5 cr | Flop | Salman, Priyanka |
| Kaminey (2009) | 43.1 cr | 20 cr | Semi Hit | Shahid, Priyanka |
| Aarakshan (2010) | 43.8 cr | 12 cr | Flop | Amitabh, Saif, Deepika |
| Peepli Live (2011) | 30.2 cr | 10 cr | Hit | No stars |
| Ek Tha Tiger (2012) | 199.6 cr | 68 cr | Blockbuster | Salman, Katrina |
| OUATIMD (2013) | 60.8 cr | 12 cr | Flop | Akshay, Sonakshi |
| Singham Returns (2014) | 140.2 cr | 27 cr | Super Hit | Ajay, Kareena |
| Brothers (2015) | 82.7 cr | 26 cr | Flop | Akshay, Sidharth |
| Mohenjo Daro (2016) | 60 cr* | - | Flop* | Hrithik, Pooja |
| Rustom (2016) | 110 cr* | - | Hit* | Akshay, Ileana |
i dont understand why salman fans are saying that yrf manipulated the collections of Ek tha tiger and showed that it didnt cross 200 crores in every article. Arent they same people who believe in BOI figures and let me remind them that according to BOI ek tha tiger lifetime collections r 187 crores. 199 crores figure r producer collections but as salman fans dont believe in producer figures(they always say krrish 3 collections r manipulated) . so YRF increased the collections of ETT and salman fans shud believe boi figures and not producer figures.
Independence Day weekend has been very successful but still it is not as huge as Eid, Diwali or Christmas . Movies that release on this weekend get an advantage of one extra holiday but still there have been big failures on this weekend – Brothers, GTGH, OUATIMD, Aarakshan and Mohenjo Daro(expected) . CDI was the best film without any doubt in the above list . God Tussi Great Ho is the worst movie from the above list . Happy Independence Day everyone and I hope India will continue to prosper economically in the next 20 years and beyond . Peace !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@phenomenal idiot
Read the the article again. There was a clear mention that your global king runs away from Eid in fear of MEGASTAR Bhai… Hahaha.
BTW, your global king’s solo releases are struggling to surpass 80cr mark. Just imagine if Raeesa would have clashed with Sultan then it would not have collected even 40cr.
Why don’t you better fight with some Arjun kapur and Varun Dhawan fans (as they are also struggling to cross 80cr mark along with your global king)???
Among Khan’s
Highest grossers on EID,Diwali,Non-holidays,Independence Day Weekend was given by one and only Bhai
Aamir Khan has the Ultimate synonyms with Xmas, most successful star of this period
Teesra Khan have tried everything and has nothing but Babaji Ka Thullu in his hand….Biggest Ganwar Star for a Reason !!!
Good reply from sky@the phenom
Akki rocks here also with the most number of flops
brothers and once upon a time
Sholay is definitely the biggest and most iconic film ever released on this weekend. Have never seen so many iconic characters coming together in one movie. Thakur, Gabbar, Jai, Veeru, Basanti, Radha …. each character is legendary and iconic.
Not just the main characters but smaller ones like Saambha, Kaalia, Jailor (angrezon ke zamane ka jailor- Asrani), Soorma Bhopali, etc are also remembered. I can write a whole essay on Sholay but would stop here.
Anyways coming to the recent releases, it has been a good weekend for the business. SRK, Ajay, Salman and now Akshay have all delivered big hits on this weekend.
From that list, CDI is my most favorite one. An excellent movie and the role of Kabir Khan of SRK is easily one of his best ones.
My top 3 movies from that list will be CDI, Kaminey and Peepli Live (have not watched Rustom yet). Peepli Live was a very fine movie. Loved the way it slammed the media hard.
Peepli Live became a hit despite having no star. Aamir Khan Productions ka naam hi kaafi hai ?
The phenom style
best february film-my name is khan
best april film-fan
Jai hind!!!
Akki sir Rocks with 2 flops
@The Phenom, that’s all you srk fans can do, use “If” and “But” all the time…..if srk get that movie, if srk release his movie, but that’s directors fault, but there is no song, but there is no heroin (like Srk wife character is played by Srk himself in FAN, and he was wearing Saree) LOL…..every time If and But….every time excuses…..that’s all good in Haklu Fans….
I clearly remember when God tussi great ho released along with Bachna ae haseena aman was hosting 10ka dum that time.. Ranbir and Deepika came to the show to promote their movie and Salman requested everyone to watch the movie along with his movie.. what I want to say here is this type of gesture made him different from others.. Remember Oso vs saawariya..
Great News to all Salman Fans Kabir Khan just gives a green signal to the sequel of ETT…..
Today Kabir Khan took twitter and confirm that soon the sequel of ETT will come…..
“Thank you for all the love and making #4YearsOfBlockbusterETT trend… Now wait for the sequel.”
Indicine plz make an article on this….
A worthy mention to Singh is Kinng here, that released on 8 August 2008, just 1 week before Independence Day and just 1 week after Eid (2 August 2008).
Both these lucrative holidays were take by youngsters’ films (Imran Khan’s Kidnap and Ranbir’s BAH) along with GTGH. Akshay could have taken any of these holidays along with a solo release, but he released SIK on a non-holiday and even then it topped 2008, just behind the X-mas release Ghajini.
Yep the whole world knows Salman is the undisputed king of Bollywood except for some fans who live in delusion. Amir is a close second but stop patronising coward khan. I like CDI and hv it in my playlist buh its a rip off many Hollywood sports drama and Naseerudin Shah would hv done the role better.
hahaha got this great ho 5 cr lifetime
indicine
CDI 8 Aug released and tax free many States….
tere naam 15 Aug released
best of sallu in 15 Aug
correct it….
Bachna ae 36 cr
GTGH-13 cr
i mean its 1-3rd collection
and bhaitards mock BM vs dilwale
@nawaab
when CDI was released then SRK was bigger star than all other superstars and also the biggest crowd puller so during first week most people go to watch CDI like todays sultan, bb, dhoom 3. but aamir was not like that when TZP was released.
Akshay, Salman and srk the biggest stars of Bollywood…..
If MD dies 60cr, loos will be 70cr around
Its a disaster not a flop
Right?
By the way, have to praise SRK in one thing
In last 25 years if a movie has released without romance and a romantic track and been declared BLOCKBUSTER it by the KING OF ROMANCE in CDI
Ek tha Tiger was a Eid release also.. mention that plz.. If it would be a I-day release only then it couldn’t score 199 cr…
Bdw Among all these movies CDI & Rustom are my fav…. CDI is the best performance of SRK
So funny to see HR fans happy that MD might be a flop and not a disaster ^^’
Salman have no opening day record, no Weekend record , no HGOAT record… hit ratio is also not the best… Then how salma became Undisputed bigger star ???
Sorry to say Chak De India was phenomenal and so was Shahrukh in the movie. But this doesnot deserve the filmfare and other worthy awards for that year. It reminds me how much the industry is biased against the one against the superstars. Abhisekh Bachchan in the guru was not only inspiring but was mesmerizing in his performances. We never see him emulating the same success again. But neverthless his perfomance in guru stands tall and incomparision Shahrukh performance in Chak De India is nothing. But this happens so often in bollywood like Aamir Khan not winning award for PK which probably is his career best performance. Thx no offence.
Shivaay will badly crush ADHM. Ajay will destroy Karan.
@nawaab :
TZP opening week was 17 cr , while lifetime was 61 crs .
CDI had better WOM .
@Sky :
Darr is my personal favourite so I rate it higher than 3I , but of course 3I was fantastic .
And yes, BB or Dabangg was better than CE but surely not Sultan .
Aarakshaan release in 2011 not in 2010 and peepli live release date is 2010 not 2011. @indicine please correct it.