Varied and successful: Bollywood’s tryst with I-Day!

Bollywood has always had a special relationship with festive weekends/holidays. After all, the right release period — such as Diwali, Eid or Christmas — can directly impact a film’s profit.

Interestingly, over the years, besides ‘tried-and-tested’ festive weekends, Independence Day has gone on to become a sought-after release window for Bollywood’s filmmakers. Especially for films with patriotism at their core. 

For starters, last year saw multiple films such as Mission Mangal (made over ₹200 crore) and Batla House (around ₹98 crore) on the August 15 weekend. A year earlier, Gold ( ₹108 crore) and Satyameva Jayate (nearly ₹90 crore) hit theatres.

In previous years, several hits such as Rustom (2016), Singham Returns (2014), Ek Tha Tiger (2012) and Chak De India (2007) released on the Independence Day weekend. This year, the John Abraham-starrer Attack was supposed to open on the I-Day weekend but Covid-19 played spoilsport.

“Over the years, the Independence Day weekend has turned out to be a very profitable period for Hindi movies because it’s a big national festival,” says trade analyst Taran Adarsh. 

Not many know that one of Bollywood’s all-time blockbusters, Sholay, had released on August 15, 1975.

“Bollywood has had a truly iconic relationship with the Independence Day weekend,” says exhibitor-distributor Akshaye Rathi, adding: “Now, it’s surely one of the biggest weekends from the film industry’s perspective. I would put it somewhere close to the Diwali weekend, so it’s like ‘chhoti Diwali’.”

For filmmakers, it all boils down to “audiences’ good mood and leisure time”. “In a national festive atmosphere such as on Independence Day, audiences are in a positive frame of mind and they also have free time in hand to watch films. And that directly affects our box office collections,” says director Anees Bazmee. 

It’s interesting to note that over the years, a variety of films, and not just overtly patriotic ones, such as Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008), Kaminey (2009), Peepli Live (2010) and Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (2017) have been released on this weekend. “That’s because we, as an industry, are attempting new kind of cinema. And so, we aren’t stuck with just one kind of storytelling,” says Adarsh, adding modern-day patriotism “doesn’t have to be of a particular kind”. 

For Rathi though, a “good patriotic film” on Independence or Republic Day will always be a huge draw with audiences. “Patriotism is an emotion that’s common to everyone, regardless of caste, creed, religion or strata

Big winners of the August 15 weekend

Mission Mangal: over ₹200 crore

Toilet: Ek Prem Katha: ₹134 crore

Singham Returns: ₹140 crore

Ek Tha Tiger: ₹198 crore

Chak De India: ₹68 crore

(All nett figures; India only)