List of Hindi films with holiday weekend releases in 2015

The trend of blocking big weekends in advance has continued this year too, as most holiday weekends of 2015 have been blocked by the top superstars in the industry.

Republic Day weekend: Three films are currently scheduled to release on January 23rd 2015 and atleast one of them is likely to be postponed to a later day as two of them are Akshay Kumar starrers. The film that eventually releases during the week with benefit from a 4-day extended weekend as Republic Day falls on Monday.

• ‘Baby’ directed by Neeraj Pandey starring Akshay Kumar and Tapsee Pannu
• ‘Gabbar’ directed by Krish starring Akshay Kumar and Shruthi Hassan
• ‘Mr X’ directed by Vikram Bhatt starring Emraan Hashmi

Post-IPL weekend: The Friday after the conclusion of IPL is not considered a holiday weekend as such, but has been the third most lucrative weekend after Eid and Christmas in the last 5 years.  Two films are scheduled to release on 29th May 2015, one starring Ranbir Kapoor who delivered his biggest career hit Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani in 2013.

• ‘Jagga Jasoos’ directed by Anurag Basu starring Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif
• ‘The Xpose Sequel’ starring Himesh Reshammiya (director not announced)

Eid weekend: Salman Khan has rarely missed out on his most successful weekend. The year he decided to give a miss, Shahrukh Khan and Rohit Shetty released their family entertainer and the rest is history. However, the Eid weekend in 2014 and 2015 belongs to Salman.

• ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ directed by Kabir Khan starring Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor. Release date: 16 July 2015.

Independence Day weekend: With the Eid weekend quickly moving towards the first half of the year, Yash Raj Films will release Shahrukh Khan’s Fan during Independence Day next year. The film, directed by Maneesh Sharma, will release on 14th August.

• ‘Fan’ directed by Maneesh Sharma starring Shahrukh Khan.

Diwali weekend: Apart from Shahrukh Khan – Aditya Chopra / Yash Chopra and Hrithik Roshan – Rakesh Roshan, no other actor-director duo have been as successful as Salman Khan and Sooraj Barjatya. 16 years after Hum Saath Saath Hai, which also happened to release during Diwali, the legendary duo will return with yet another family drama titled ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’.

• ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’ directed by Sooraj Barjatya starring Salman Khan and Sonam Kapoor

Christmas weekend: Currently, Sanjay Leela Bhansali has locked the date to release his magnum-opus ‘Bajirao Mastani’ starring Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone. ‘Shuddhi’ the other film scheduled to release next Christmas has been shelved for now. Since Aamir Khan hasn’t signed a film after ‘P.K’, things could get interesting if a top star decides to release his film during the Christmas weekend. Like we have seen in recent times, it doesn’t really matter who blocks the date first. The bigger stars always get the dates they want. OUATIMD – Chennai Express, Bombay Velvet – Welcome Back – P.K are two examples. Since Hrithik Roshan’s ‘Mohenjodaro’ will go on floors in September this year, the Ashutosh Gowariker film might just be ready in time for Christmas.

Which weekend are you waiting for? Vote and tell us what you think. You can pick a maximum of three weekends.