As the vibrant beats of the Republic Day celebrations fade into the background, the glitz and glamour of Bollywood’s box office battleground spark to life, with Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone’s big-ticket release ‘Fighter’ making a conspicuous entry. But before we place our bets on this year’s contenders, it’s time to take a stroll down the memory lane of the past decade, analyzing the hits and misses of the Republic Day weekend releases, with a special spotlight on Deepika Padukone’s unparalleled success.
Past glories, with Deepika at the forefront, beckon us with Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Pathaan’, a cinematic juggernaut that steamrolled its way into the record books on a non-holiday eve of Republic Day 2023. Obliterating expectations, ‘Pathaan’ nabbed a jaw-dropping Rs 57 crore on day one, vaulting to a lifetime gross of Rs 543.05 crore domestically. Perched on the shadowed side of this triumph was ‘Gandhi vs Godse – Ek Yudh’, drowned in ‘Pathaan’s wake, with a scant lifetime haul of Rs 2.40 crore.
Rewinding to the second-highest Republic Day jewel in the crown, we revisit ‘Padmaavat’, featuring the potent pairing of Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone. Leaping over controversies with grace, the film opened to a mighty Rs 24 crore. With ‘Fighter’ marking Deepika’s third entrant on this auspicious date, speculation mounts on whether this film will ascend into the top three of the decade’s R-Day releases.
The battles of the box office are fought fiercely, with clashes being a routine affair save for a trio of years — 2013, 2014, and 2018. The pandemic played spoilsport in 2021 and 2022, leaving the R-Day release calendar desolate. Yet, the years that preceded teemed with head-to-head theatrical tussles, immortalized in the annals of cinematic competition.
In 2020, the dance spectacle ‘Street Dancer 3D’, with Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor, danced circles around Kangana Ranaut’s heartfelt ‘Panga’. The former raked in an impressive Rs 9.5 crore on opening day as opposed to the latter’s Rs 2.7 crore. The prior year marked the standoff between Kangana’s epic ‘Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi’ and Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s ‘Thackeray’, with the queen reigning with Rs 7.75 crore over Thackeray’s Rs 2.75 crore.
The year 2017’s marquee face-off between ‘Raees’ and ‘Kaabil’ was a tale of two divergent fates. SRK’s ‘Raees’ commanded an impressive Rs 20.42 crore on its first day, with ‘Kaabil’ not too far behind, amassing Rs 10.43 crore. A testament to their enduring appeal, both films proudly crossed the Rs 100 crore lifetime mark. ‘Airlift’, Akshay Kumar’s patriotic offering from 2016, squared off against the adult comedy, ‘Kya Kool Hai Hum 3’, lifting a hefty Rs 12.35 crore on its release day, while its adversary settled for Rs 8.15 crore.
Akshay Kumar’s R-Day appearances continued in 2015 when ‘Baby’ competed with Sonam Kapoor’s ‘Dolly Ki Doli’. The former secured Rs 9.3 crore on day one, while the latter garnered a modest Rs 2.55 crore. Stepping further back into 2014 and 2013, we saw Salman Khan’s ‘Jai Ho’ command a respectable Rs 17.75 crore opening, and the year before that, ‘Race 2’ sped away with Rs 15.12 crore on day one.
The Republic Day weekend looms large in the Bollywood release calendar, heralding a period of blockbusters and box office bonanzas. This year, as ‘Fighter’ descends into the arena, will it soar high enough to join or even surpass the illustrious ranks of R-Day releases? Only time will tell, and the audience’s verdict will be final.
