The Valentine's Bonanza - It's All About Clashes & Box-Office Figures!!!

By Sambit Gupta | 715 |

What with the beginning of February, we are already gearing up for the Valentine's Day week. If we emphasize on the last few years, we'll get to know that it's all about trying to create a rage at the box and nothing more than that. Now, one can't deny the fact that classy films too release during this time, but mostly they are rejected by the audience, or should I say couples? *wink* Jokes apart, let's go through last few years' B.O. clashes and collections and have an estimate of this year's Valentine's release. So, here we go.

Gunday Vs Hasee Toh Phasee - 2014

Okay, as most of you would be ready to argue, let me tell you that this wasn't really a clash. Gunday arrived solo on Valentine's day and Hasee Toh Phasee released a week before that. So what? Can't there be a Box-Office battle between two biggies with great actors and production banners? Let's talk about the better film first. Hasee Toh Phasee was more of a classy film and also the one which couples would prefer more during Cupid's week. This wasn't the scenario. Starting from critics to every audience, they all praised it equally but when it came to footfalls, not many people flocked to the theatres. As a result, this Dharma movie made a lifetime collection of 37.4 crores and is considered a plus affair. Now, lets move on to Gunday which had a stellar cast, big production banner, a successful director and actors with bigger star power than the former one. Arjun & Ranveer's bromance accompanied with Irrfan Khan's presence helped it look more appealing to the masses and well, that was evident enough as the B.O. collections were speaking for this action flick. Though it collected 76.55 crores domestically, the high budget of the movie hampered it largely. All done and dusted, the audience preferred Gunday over Hasee Toh Phasee in spite of the former being an average affair.

Roy Vs MSG: The Messenger - 2015

I shouldn't criticise Saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan too much else his followers would put me behind the bars. I know most of you didn't get the point about what I tried to say, so keep all that aside. 2015 was that year when both the Valentine's releases proved to be great disasters. Okay, so I'm not even considering MSG: The Messenger as a film where one man, or should I say a saint, is the actor, writer, director, singer, composer, lyricist, and many more. It's nothing more than a promotional event for his bhakts that this saint would defy all logics and fight all odds. The total B.O. collections stand at 16.55 crores (as claimed by trade experts) whereas the disputed collections stand at 126 crores (as claimed by the producers). Now, lets talk about the directorial debut of Vikramjit Singh titled Roy starring Arjun Rampal, Ranbir Kapoor & Jacqueline Fernandez in lead roles. This marked the return of Ranbir on the big screen, almost two long years, after the debacle of Besharam. Now, when you have Ranbir & Jacqueline in a 'looks-like' classy film which already promised great chartbuster music, there's no reason to give it a miss. This could've been a perfect Valentine's release as it also dealt with a love story, but what looked classy actually turned out to be a total mess. Most of the audience as well as critics found the whole movie confusing. Moreover, Ranbir only had an extended cameo which shouldn't have been the case. Hence, music was the only saving grace for the film as it managed to register a collection of 44.5 crores.

Fitoor Vs Sanam Re - 2016

Last year, both the Valentine's release locked horns and had a neck-to-neck fight at the B.O. with Sanam Re as a typical love story and Fitoor with a classy love story based on the novel Great Expectations written by Charles Dickens. Both the movies had chartbuster music albums which enjoyed great longevity. The Divya Khosla Kumar directorial had a massy appeal to it. Hence, despite having a weak plot, the 21 crore film turned out to be a clean commercial hit with domestic collections reading to 30.32 crore. It also recovered 16 crores from Music & Satellite rights. Here comes the turn of the Abhishek Kapoor directorial-Fitoor. It seemed to be another Lootera for Bollywood, what with poetry, heavenly music, great star cast and breathtaking visuals of the snow-covered Kashmir. The Great Expectations' adaptation did elevate the excitement among all but in vain. The movie was completely rejected since the very first day of release. As a result, this high budget film worth 70 crores managed to earn a mere 19.28 crores approximately, which proves that it was one of the biggest disasters of Bollywood.

Expectations - Jolly LLB 2 Vs The Ghazi Attack Vs Runningshaadi.com - 2017

Okay, so this isn't really a clash as Jolly LLB 2 is going to arrive solo on 10th February, but one can't deny the fact that it would face stiff competition from The Ghazi Attack & Runningshaadi.com which is going to release a week later. Now, all the movies have great names attached to them. Lets start from Jolly LLB 2. This Subhash Kapoor directorial is the sequel to the National Award winning film, Jolly LLB starring Arshad Warsi in the lead role. Akshay's menacing act should catalyze the film to march towards the coveted 100 crore club quite comfortably. Moreover, nowadays with every movie he is turning out to be even better. So keep your fingers crossed till it manages to become the 3rd 100 crore entrant in 2017 after रईस & Kaabil. Now lets discuss about The Ghazi Attack which stars Kay Kay Menon, Om Puri, Rana Daggubatti and Taapsee Pannu in lead roles. The patriotic trailer seems promising what with Amitabh Bachchan's voice-over and the excellently shot underwater war scenes adding extra novelty to it. The Dharma film, which is directed by debutant director Sankalp, is touted to be India's first war-at-sea/underwater film. The classy appeal works in its favour. Though, it's not going to break B.O. records, but it would surely get a thumbs up from both the audience and the critics and would hence, recover its investments. The word of mouth would play a crucial role in turning out this venture a clean hit. Now, National Award winner Shoojit Sircar's name is attached to the Amit Roy directorial titled Runningshaadi.com starring Amit Sadh & Taapsee Pannu. After Pink, we all know that she had definitely proved her acting skills. Amit Sadh's acting is always praiseworthy since Kai Po Che!. The trailer is very quirky and looks like it would have a niche appeal. Less promotion and marketing would definitely affect the film, but let's hope for the best. After all, it's definitely a win-win situation for Taapsee Pannu as both her movies are clashing on 17th February.
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