Bollywood’s obsession with festive releases is nothing new. However, not all movies opening during festivals have a great time at the box office. Diwali is here and the special occasion calls for filmmakers to release their movies. The season brings families together and if you are dizzy with the festivities, entertaining cinema can be useful. In the past, audiences have witnessed major box office clashes during the festival of lights.
This year, there’s no box office clash in Bollywood as only Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif’s film, Sooryavanshi, is releasing in the theatres. The movie will lock horns with the Hollywood film Eternals on 5 November. And on 4 November, Rajinikanth’s movie, Annaatthe is slated to release.
Here, we take a look at how some of the Bollywood movies fared at the box office in the last few years. To be honest, some are good, while others are drab. Check out the list!
Krrish 3 (2013)
The superhero film is directed, written and produced by Rakesh Roshan and distributed by Filmkraft Productions. Krrish 3 stars Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Vivek Oberoi, Kangana Ranaut in lead roles.
The film did an excellent business at the box office with a lifetime collection of Rs 244.92 crores. Krrish 3 not only broke some records on its way to be a huge success, but also went on to be one of the biggest blockbusters during its time of release. Produced on a budget of Rs 95 crore, the film grossed Rs 393 crore worldwide. It received praises for Roshan and Ranaut’s performances, the visual effects, the cinematography, and entertainment value.
The film’s VFX were led by Mumbai-based RedChillies VFX. Krrish 3 also garnered a lot of attention for being among the first VFX-heavy Indian films produced entirely in India.
Happy New Year (2014)
Directed by Farah Khan and produced by Gauri Khan under the banner of Red Chillies Entertainment, Happy New Year features an ensemble cast of Deepika Padukone, Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu Sood, Boman Irani, Vivaan Shah and Jackie Shroff. It was distributed worldwide by Yash Raj Films.
The film’s lifetime collection boasts a mammoth Rs 408 crores. Made on a total budget of Rs 100 crores, Happy New Year gained around 4,200 screens in Hindi and 800 screens in Tamil and Telugu, that was the biggest film release in India up until then. Despite mixed-to-positive reviews, the film was appreciated for its performances, humour, music, cinematography, visual effects, action sequences. However, the SRK-starrer was criticised for writing and pace.
Nonetheless, it emerged as a blockbuster grossing Rs 50 crore in India on its opening day, setting the record for the highest-first day collection made by an Indian film to that point, and over Rs 408 crore worldwide, making it the second highest grossing Bollywood film of 2014 and among the highest-grossing Bollywood films of all time.
RedChillies VFX provided the VFX for the film and the team definitely added the digital effects flawlessly, whisking away several awards.
Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo (2015)
PRDP is written and directed by Sooraj Barjatya, produced by Rajshri Productions and distributed by Fox Star Studios. Starring Salman Khan (in a dual role) and Sonam Kapoor, it is the fourth collaboration between Barjatya and Khan after their previous films.
With earnings of Rs 210 crore worldwide, the film emerged as a commercial success as well as the second highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2015 and one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films.
Prime Focus did the VFX for the film, with the company providing 80 per cent of the film’s VFX and DI work. VDX that was included in the film are special cityscape creation, crowded multiplication for a couple of sequences and a few touches during the climax action sequences. There are also various palace set extensions and sky additions to the songs involving Salman and Sonam.
Shivaay (2016)
Directed and produced by Ajay Devgn under his banner Ajay Devgn FFilms with the story and screenplay written by Sandeep Shrivastava, this action-thriller film features Ajay Devgn in the lead titular role along with debutante actresses Sayyeshaa, Abigail Eames and Erika Kaar in lead roles.
It ran for more than 50 days at the box office. It won the 64th National Film Award for Best Special Effects in 2017. It was screened at the 2017 Shanghai International Film Festival on 17 June 2017. Shivaay released with Karan Johar’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. It took an opening of over Rs 10 crores and did well over the first weekend. On the weekdays, it held strong and crossed the mark of Rs 70 crores in its first week. The film remained decent in its second week and collected Rs 17.75 crores. It witnessed a fall in the third week and took its lifetime total over Rs 100 crores. Shivaay earned Rs 125 crores all over the world and hence fared successfully at the box office.
The film’s VFX was provided by NY VFXWAALA and was unanimously praised for its special effects after its release.
Golmaal Again (2017)
Golmaal Again is a horror-action comedy film written and directed by Rohit Shetty and produced by Rohit Shetty Pictures, Mangal Murti Films and Reliance Entertainment. Made on a total budget of Rs 69 crores, including production and marketing costs, it is the fourth installment of the Golmaal franchise and stars Tabu, Ajay Devgn, Parineeti Chopra, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Kunal Khemu.
The film turned out to be the 15th highest worldwide Bollywood grosser worldwide of all time. The total collection of the film was Rs 307 crore approximately in the first 32 days of its release.
The creative team at NY VFXWAALA delivered VFX for the horror-comedy flick. The Ooty shots in the film had to be digitally enhanced due to the demand of the story and cinematography the makers were following. Certain elements, colours, and backdrops requirement enhancement due to creative needs. Thus, several shots that were taken in Ooty have a hint of animation and VFX.
Thugs of Hindostan (2018)
The action-adventure film was written and directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, and produced by Aditya Chopra under his banner Yash Raj Films. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Ronit Roy, and Lloyd Owen.
Produced at an estimated budget of Rs 300 crore, Thugs of Hindostan is one of the most expensive Bollywood films. However, the film could only make Rs 335 crore at the worldwide box office.
From its inception, the movie was conceptualised as a visual spectacle to be released in IMAX format. With the visual effects being an integral part of the action adventure, Aditya Chopra and Khan decided that the VFX will be handled in the studio’s in-house special effects wing, yFX. It was for Thugs of Hindostan that Chopra had specially launched the visual effects wing in 2016. In the past, the production house’s offerings were usually outsourced to other VFX studios.
Housefull 4 (2019)
Housefull 4 is a comedy directed by Farhad Samji and produced by Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment and Fox Star Studios. The film is the fourth installment of Housefull franchise, and stars an ensemble cast of Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Bobby Deol, Kriti Sanon, Pooja Hegde and Kriti Kharbanda.
Nadiadwala claimed the film to be the highest-budgeted Indian comedy film. Housefull 4 received mixed to negative reviews, and was appreciated for performances of the cast and production values. However, the screenplay, writing, and direction received flak; nonetheless the movie became a box-office success. With a total collection of Rs 210 crore, Housefull 4 is Akshay Kumar’s highest-grossing film.
Nadiadwala hired Double Negative, a London based visual effects company and the DI was done by Prime Focus. The VFX team of the record-breaking Baahubali saga too worked on the VFX for Housefull 4 in addition to Double Negative.
Laxmii (2020)
Laxmii is a horror-comedy written and directed by Raghava Lawrence, marking his directorial debut in the Hindi film industry. A remake of his own Tamil film Kanchana (2011), it stars Akshay Kumar and Kiara Advani, while Ayesha Raza Mishra, Rajesh Sharma, Ashwini Kalsekar and Sharad Kelkar play pivotal roles. Kumar, also produced the film under his Cape of Good Films and Fox Star Studios, along with Tusshar Kapoor’s newly launched production company, Tusshar Entertainment House and Shabina Entertainment.
Laxmii was originally scheduled for a theatrical release on 22 May 2020, but the release was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was later streamed digitally through Disney+ Hotstar on 9 November 2020, across India, thus becoming the first big-budget Bollywood film to release on a streaming platform, and was not released theatrically in India, while being released in theatres in the United Arab Emirates, Fiji, Australia and New Zealand. The film broke records and became the biggest opener for Disney+ Hotstar VIP.
After Studios, a division of Silvercloud studios, provided VFX for the film. The Akshay Kumar-starrer did manage to garner attention because of its impressive production values and high-quality visual effects.
~ All eyes on Sooryavanshi (2021) now!