21st Century's Top 10 Biggest Bollywood Box-Office Clashes

It's going to be clash of the titans this Diwali 2017 when 'Mr Perfectionist' Aamir Khan's Secret Superstar will lock horns with 'Thalaiva' Rajnikanth and 'The Man with the Midas Touch', National Award winner Akshay Kumar starrer 2.0 at the Box-office.

Film critic and business analyst, Taran Adarsh, shared the news on Sunday on micro blogging website Twitter, “#BreakingNews: Aamir Khan Productions’ #SecretSuperstar will now release in Diwali 2017. Zee Studios presents. Directed by Advait Chandan.” The film has been directed by Aamir’s close friend and stars Zaira Wasim, who won the National Award for Best Supporting Actor for Dangal.

Secret Superstar is a story about a girl with a passion for singing. She wants to be heard all across the globe but the problem is her daddy dearest who cruelly rips apart her guitar as she watches. She realises her dream by wearing a hijab and secretly uploading her songs on YouTube. Aamir plays her mentor and a rockstar in the film, who will yet again surprise the audience with his transformation by getting into the skin of his character.

A Sequel to Rajnikanth-Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's 2010 science fiction blockbuster Enthiran, 2.0 feature the Tamil superstar reprising the roles of Dr. Vaseegaran and Chitti, alongside Akshay Kumar who will be seen in a never seen before negative role. With an estimated budget of ₹4 billion (₹400 crore), it is the most expensive Indian film to date.

Aamir was earlier supposed to release the film, which is made under his production, on August 4 and the first trailer of the film also had this date out in open but now many stories are being circulated on how Aamir didn't want his film to be pitted against his dear friend Sanjay Dutt's comeback movie Bhoomi which is reportedly being released on the same date, though an official announcement is yet to come. Then there is another story that Aamir even thought of moving his film ahead by a week but that would have made him clash with Shah Rukh Khan's film with Imtiaz Ali releasing on 11 August. Aamir and SRK share friendly relationship and the two did not want any clash to ruin the same. Interestingly SRK's film's release date was announced on twitter last year by Aamir's closest buddy Salman Khan.

With 2.0 and Secret Superstar clashing this Diwali, it will probably be the biggest box office clash ever in Bollywood as all the main players in these two films - Aamir Khan, Rajnikanth and Akshay Kumar - enjoy a major loyal fanbase with their films expected to be nothing less than blockbusters by audiences and exhibitors alike.

The clash however won't be the first of the year. 2017 began with a murky fight for cinema screens between Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees and Hrithik Roshan’s Kaabil upon Republic Day week release. The two films made clean profits in their run but the clash did dent their business which they could have done had each got a solo release. SRK, whose films are not exactly spinning major money recently, is up for another clash already - this time with Akshay Kumar coming with his Toilet: Ek Prem Katha on 11 August, the same week as SRK-Anushka's Imtiaz Ali film.

It will have to be seen what the result comes from these clashes or the makers actually talk to each other for a date change. Meanwhile, let's take a look at 21st Century's Top 10 Biggest Bollywood Box-Office Clashes:

1) Ae Dil Hai Mushkil v/s Shivaay

Release Date: 28 October 2016

Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Ajay Devgn's Shivaay locked horns at the ticket windows and the former won the battle hands down. But it was the ugliest Box office clash ever - not just did Ajay Devgn publicly accused Karan Johar of bribing Kamaal R Khan for tweeting neagitive stuffs about his film before the release, but the clash ended one of the strongest and closest friendship in the Hindi Film Industry - that of Karan Johar and Devgn's wife Kajol. The two have never spoken to each other ever since. Karan has penned down his thoughts on the end of their friendship in his autobiography stating, "I wouldn’t like to give a piece of myself to her at all because she’s killed every bit of emotion I had for her for twenty-five years."

 

He also added, "That tweet validated the insanity, that she could believe I would bribe someone. I felt that's it. It’s over. And she can never come back to my life. I don’t think she wants to either. I never want to have anything to do with them as a unit. She was the one who mattered to me but now it’s over."

The aftermath of the clash is still visible as just a few days ago when a popular daily asked Kajol about it, she apparently took a dig at former best friend Karan with her reply, "I think there’s a lot of fake honesty going around as well. I really do. There are a lot of people going around and saying, 'You know I’m being honest' and actually, it's just for selling books, or movies and ratings. I don't know, there are a lot of reasons for faking in front of the camera. Or in front of the public, for that matter. I think honesty has been abused over time and space."

2) Mohenjo-Daro v/s Rustom

Release Date: 12 August 2016

Akshay Kumar won the clash. Earlier on paper Mohenjo-Daro looked like a clear winner as it was a big budget movie and had the combo of Hrithik Roshan and Ashutosh Gowariker which delivered the classic Jodhaa Akbar. Expectations were sky high. After the trailers came out things slowly started to turn in favor of Rustom and celebs promotion of the Akshay Kumar movie made the damage even more.

Mohenjo-Daro opened poorly and couldn’t pick up and emerged as a Disaster and Rustom opened well and finished as the 3rd Biggest Hit of the year. Akshay Kumar recently won his first ever Best Actor National Award for Rustom.

3) Bajirao Mastani v/s Dilwale

Release Date: 18 December 2015

It was a mammoth clash at the box-office in the form of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Bajirao Mastani and Rohit Shetty's Dilwale. Both films boasted of an ensemble cast. While Bajirao Mastani has Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra, Dilwale saw the return of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, with Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon in pivotal roles. The advantage for both was that they were poles apart in terms of their genres. But how the mighty fell in the clash in now history.

Bajirao Mastani outdid Dilwale in not just ringing in major box office figures but also in the opening numbers, a major shocker for most trade pundits in the country. Did SRK-Kajol needed only a Karan Johar to bring out their magic or were this most loved on-screen couple too old to charm in front of the rumoured lovebirds Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone. Dilwale will also be one of the poorest performers for the hit film-maker Rohit Shetty, a case no-one saw coming.

4) Bang Bang v/s Haider

Release Date: 2 October 2015

Both films belonged to diverse genres and catered to a diverse set of audience. Haider was a hard-hitting drama whereas Bang Bang, was a masala action entertainer. Bang Bang managed to enter the Rs 100 crore club. However, it is not considered to be a success due to the high cost of production. On the other hand, Haider, made on a much lesser budget, earned around Rs 60 crore and received high acclaim from the audience and critics alike.

5) Jab Tak Hai Jaan v/s Son of Sardar

Release Date: 13 November 2012

It was always going to be difficult for the Ajay Devgn-starrer, Son Of Sardar to compete with Jab Tak Hai Jaan due to more reasons than one. Apart from the fact that it starred biggies like Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma, it received great hype as it was the last directorial venture of the legendary Yash Chopra, who had passed away just before the film’s release. The film was therefore promoted as his Swan Song, with the entire film industry pouring in for the wishes.

Ajay Devgn had publicly stated how YRF was influencing the Multiples owners for giving maximum screens to their production and this led to the actor's wife and actress Kajol reportedly either uninvited or skipping the JTHJ movie premiere which was attended by all of SRK and Yash Chopra's previous heroines.

While Son Of Sardar managed decent numbers, it fell short of expectations.

6) Action Replay v/s Golmaal 3

Release Date: 5 November 2010

Riding high on the back-to-back success of the first two films in the franchise, Golmaal 3 was already running the box office race with a clear head start. But it was also the return of Akshay Kumar with his hit film-maker Vipul Shah, with the added bonus of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. A hyped clash but Golmaal 3 emerged victorious and how. It was funny, it was madder and the family audiences loved it during their Diwali outing. Action Replayy on the other hand fell flat on its script failing the audience for the fun they expected. The makers also failed to cash in the fun element of the 70s era, like Farah Khan successfully did in her Om Shanti Om.

7) Om Shanti Om v/s Saawariya

Release Date: 9 November 20017

SRK and SLB clash was a revisit of their 2007 ugly clash of Om Shanti Om and Saawariya but it was a different story back then. This was an out-and-out one-way contest. From the time it was announced that Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya would be clashing on Diwali, there was a buzz that the former would trump the latter. And that is exactly what happened. Saawariya’s bad response, coupled with Shah Rukh Khan’s star power, ensured a runaway victory for Om Shanti Om. However, the only compensation for Saawariya was Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor’s noticeable debuts.

8) Don v/s Jaan-e-Mann

Release Date: 20 October 2006

The only occasion when Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan battled it out at the box office. The 2006 Diwali expected some great fireworks from the clash of the titans. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. The hype and thrill pertaining to Farhan Akhtar’s Don and a not-so-good response to Shirish Kunder’s Jaan-e-Mann made sure the latter didn’t taste success.

9) Aitraaz v/s Naach v/s Veer Zaara

Release Date: 12 November 2004

This was a rare occasion when not two but three important films had released on the same day. But such high numbers of releases also brings with it the danger of at least one film getting completely overshadowed. This turned out to be Ram Gopal Varma’s Abhishek Bachchan and Antara Mali-starrer Naach, which bombed at the box-office. Yash Chopra’s Veer-Zaara and Abbas Mustan’s Aitraaz managed good and decent collections respectively.

10) Gadar v/s Lagaan

Release Date: 15 June 2001

This is the only instance where both films turned out to be blockbusters. Before release, the Aamir Khan starrer was expected to trump the Sunny Deol-starrer. However, the Indo-Pak theme, action and fiery patriotic dialogue ensured that Gadar, too, became a runaway success, just like Lagaan. It has been 16 years since then but Bollywood is yet to see such an occurrence again.

MOST NOTABLE MENTION FROM PREVIOUS CENTURY:

[I] Sholay v/s Jai Santoshi Mata

Release Date: 15 August 1975

Movie of the century vs Biggest Devotional Movie ever in Bollywood. Both movies were All Time BlockBusters but Sholay, which started like a disaster, won the clash by big distance and it is considered as one of the best Bollywood movies of all time.

[II] Silsila v/s Arth

Release Date: 29 July 1981

Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha, Jaya Bachchan and Sanjeev Kumar starring Silsila clashed with Mahesh Bhatt's Arth starring alternate cinema's heavyweights Shabana Azmi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Smita Patil, Raj Kiran and Rohini Hattangadi. Interestingly both the films dealt with the topic of Infidelity but the star power of ex-lovers Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha along with Bachchan's wife Jaya Bachchan trumped Arth at the box office with the Yash Chopra film that audiences felt like a real life story of its actors.

Both the films were critical success and major musical hit and are even today considered all time classics, but the box office was very much in favor of Silsila back then.