Bollywood’s Diwali Dhamaka: An overview of Diwali releases through the decade

It’s that time of the year again when the whole country is in festive mood courtesy the festival of lights – Diwali. Bollywood too isn’t far behind when it comes to making the most of this festival and since few years now, Read More">Diwali has been one of the most favoured time periods to release aRead More

It's that time of the year again when the whole country is in festive mood courtesy the festival of lights - Diwali. Bollywood too isn't far behind when it comes to making the most of this festival and since few years now, Diwali has been one of the most favoured time periods to release a big film. This year too we have two biggies namely Action Replayy and Golmaal 3 clashing at the B.O on Nov 5. While only time will tell which of these two will end up being the winner, we take a trip down memory lane and recall some really dhamakedaar Diwali releases and some really thanda ones over the last decade.

2000

It was the clash of the Chopras which marked the first Diwali of the new millennium. Aditya Chopra's Big B-SRK-Ash starrer Mohabbatein was pitted against Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Mission Kashmir. While both films did open well and even found critical acclaim, in the end it was the romantic flick Mohabbatein which emerged the clear winner in the long run. Mission Kashmir despite having power packed performances by Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt couldn't really set the Box Office ablaze. The audience preferred a candy floss romantic entertainer to a hard-hitting political thriller.

2001

For the first time in many years, Bollywood witnessed a black Diwali. This year, you had 4 releases but none of them managed to draw in the crowds which one would expect with a festive release. Arjun Rampal and Dia Mirza's Deewanapan didn't find any takers while Ajay Devgn starrer Tera Mera Saath Rahen also failed to find its audience. No one had any expectations from the Jimmy Sheirgill - Ameesha Patel starrer Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar and but naturally the film tanked at the B.O. while the fourth release Kamal Haasan's ambitious tri-lingual project Abhay too sank without a trace. This Diwali is best forgotten.

Read More">2002 Yet another disastrous Diwali followed for Bollywood as there were 3 films ‘bomb’ing (pun intended) at the Box Office. The first one was Jeena Sirf Merre Liye starring Tusshar and Kareena Kapoor who thought they could replicate the success of Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai but failed to do so sadly. Govinda had yet anotherRead More

2002

Yet another disastrous Diwali followed for Bollywood as there were 3 films 'bomb'ing (pun intended) at the Box Office. The first one was Jeena Sirf Merre Liye starring Tusshar and Kareena Kapoor who thought they could replicate the success of Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai but failed to do so sadly. Govinda had yet another disastrous Diwali and his much delayed film Waah Tera Kya Kehna found no takers. As for the third release, Annarth starring Suneil Shetty, Preeti Jhangiani and Vinod Kambli, this one didn't even excite the front-benchers.

2003

The spate of dreadful Diwalis in Bollywood continued this year too where as many as 5 films opened but none managed to set the cash registers ringing. The Indo-Pak partition drama Pinjar did receive its share of critical acclaim but that didn't translate into commercial success. 2 star siblings were launched in 2 suspense flicks, Inteha (Ashmit Patel's debut flick) and Sssshhh (Tanisha's debut film), both of which released this Diwali but none of them managed to draw in the footfalls. As for the remaining two releases Kagaar and Raja Bhaiya, the less talked about the better. This was indeed one Black Diwali as far as Bollywood is concerned and once again proved that the lack of big star-cast films during a festive period does hamper the business.

2004 After 3 dull Diwali seasons, finally 2004 brought some respite with a ‘dhamakedaar’ Diwali. Once again filmmakers decided to capitalise on the festival period of Diwali and there were 4 releases competing with each other at the ticket window. First up was Yash Chopra’s Veer Zaara starring Shah Rukh Khan, Read More">Preity Zinta and RaniRead More

2004

After 3 dull Diwali seasons, finally 2004 brought some respite with a 'dhamakedaar' Diwali. Once again filmmakers decided to capitalise on the festival period of Diwali and there were 4 releases competing with each other at the ticket window. First up was Yash Chopra's Veer Zaara starring Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukherjee. The film marked Yashji's return to direction after a gap of almost 7 years and needless to say the film took a bumper opening and went on to be a Super-Hit. The second film which released this Diwali was Abbas-Mustan's thriller Aitraaz that starred Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra. This film inspired by the Hollywood flick Disclosure too found its share of audience and Priyanka Chopra's negative act won her all the top awards. It was this film which proved to be a turning point of sorts in Priyanka's career. The third film of this Diwali- RGV's Naach starring Abhishek Bachchan and Antra Mali went completely unnoticed amidst the other two biggies while the fourth Diwali release Mughal-e-Azam (re-released in colour) too didn't find many takers this time around.

2005

This was yet another eagerly awaited Diwali as not one or two but 3 big films opened at the Box Office. Priyadarshan himself had two of his films releasing on the same date- namely the comedy of errors Garam Masala and the romantic drama Kyon Ki. Besides 'The Sultan of Comedy'- David Dhawan also had the multi-starrer Shaadi No.1 releasing on Diwali date. As far as the Box Office performance was concerned, Garam Masala starring Akshay Kumar and John Abraham was immediately lapped by the audience and emerged the clear winner. Meanwhile Shaadi No.1 despite being a comedy failed to draw in the crowds. As for Kyon Ki, in spite of starring heavyweights Salman and Kareena in lead roles, this film failed to find any takers.

Read More">2006 Shah Rukh Khan has been one actor who had maximum releases during Diwali and 2006 was no different. The actor’s much awaited remake of the Big B classic Don opened in Diwali along with Akshay Kumar- Salman Khan- Preity Zinta starrer Jaan-E-Mann. While Don directed by Farhan Akhtar took a flying start and emergedRead More

2006

Shah Rukh Khan has been one actor who had maximum releases during Diwali and 2006 was no different. The actor's much awaited remake of the Big B classic Don opened in Diwali along with Akshay Kumar- Salman Khan- Preity Zinta starrer Jaan-E-Mann. While Don directed by Farhan Akhtar took a flying start and emerged as one of the biggest hits of the year, Jaan-E-Mann failed to live up to the hype. Viewers didn't quite take to this confused love triangle and preferred to watch the King Khan in action instead. This was clearly a one-sided Diwali victory for the Baadshah of Bollywood.

2007

Probably one of the biggest and most talked about Diwali clashes took place in the year 2007 when Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya opened at the Box Office. While Farah's film had superstar Shah Rukh Khan and debutant Deepika Padukone as the USP, Saawariya was touted as the grand launch vehicle of Ranbir Kapoor (son of Rishi and Neetu Kapoor) and Sonam Kapoor (daughter of Anil Kapoor). While pre-release it was touted as the big clash between these two films, once the films opened on Friday, it hardly remained so. SRK continued his dominance over the Diwali weekend and OSO clearly beat its competition courtesy its masala entertainment formula while Saawariya was labelled by all as an exercise in self-indulgence by Bhansali. The only redeeming factor was that it gave birth to a superstar in the making Ranbir Kapoor.

2008 2008 saw 2 films clashing over the Diwali weekend- Rohit Shetty’s Golmaal Returns and Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion. While Golmaal Returns being a comedy and light entertainer expectedly opened big at the big office, Read More">even Fashion despite its dark theme but thanks to its brilliant performances and taut direction set the cash registers ringing. What’sRead More

2008

2008 saw 2 films clashing over the Diwali weekend- Rohit Shetty's Golmaal Returns and Madhur Bhandarkar's Fashion. While Golmaal Returns being a comedy and light entertainer expectedly opened big at the big office, even Fashion despite its dark theme but thanks to its brilliant performances and taut direction set the cash registers ringing. What's more… Fashion even won most of the popular awards and even fetched Priyanka Chopra and Kangna Ranaut the coveted National Award. This was surely one Happy Diwali for Bollywood.

2009

Last year (2009) saw 3 big films clashing at the Box Office namely Blue, All The Best and Main Aur Mrs Khanna. Blue starred big names such as Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, Lara Dutta etc. and was touted as India's first underwater adventure flick but despite all the hype and hooplah surrounding the film, this one sank without a trace. Main Aur Mrs Khanna starred Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Sohail Khan but the moment the audience came out of the first show, they felt a sense of being cheated as their favourite Sallu bhai was hardly there in the film. Needless to say, this one was a complete washout and was soon on DTH. Finally, it was All The Best the mad-cap Rohit Shetty comedy which proved to be the dark horse and raked in the moolah. In Diwali 2009, comedy surely emerged as the clear winner at the Box Office.