Meena Iyer (DNA; December 26, 2017)

A Khan is to Bollywood’s Christmas, what Santa Claus is to the rest of the world. Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, and Shah Rukh Khan are harbingers of good luck and cheer. The triumvirate comes bearing gifts in the form of huge box office collections.

When Aamir released Ghajini (2008) during Christmas, he set a precedent of sorts. Not only did the film pave the way for the coveted Rs 100 cr club, but it also made other superstars realise the potential of the holiday season; clearly the 10-day window from Christmas Eve until January 2 set the cash registers ringing across the globe and proved to be the most lucrative for Hindi cinema, too. “The period starting from Christmas until New Year is the most profitable for a film to hit the marquee,” says exhibitor-producer N R Pachisia. He adds that unlike Diwali, which has pujas, card parties and family traditions (like bhaidooj) to accommodate besides films, the Christmas-New Year holidays are mainly reserved for having fun, relaxing and watching movies. “So, movies released during this period, really do bring in enviable numbers,” he states.

For years on end, Christmas holidays were the most-sought-after phase to release Hollywood flicks in India. However, over the last nine years, Bollywood too has reaped big profits during this time frame. “And, mostly it’s a Khan who has always benefited,” says a trade expert. Aamir has, of course, proved to be the smartest as far as getting Christmas into his kitty goes. In 2009, he released 3 Idiots (Rs 202 cr), in 2013, he had Dhoom 3 (Rs 265 cr), in 2014 he had PK (Rs 325 cr) and his 2016 Christmas release Dangal (Rs 375 cr) is the highest-grossing Hindi film ever.

Following closely in Aamir’s footsteps was Salman, who brought Dabangg 2 during Christmas 2012. Though the film wasn’t able to replicate Aamir’s box-office magic, it did earn a commendable Rs 148 cr. It also made Salman aware that besides monopolizing Eid-ul-Fitr, he could capitalize the Christmas time, too.

In fact, this year, he brought his highly-anticipated Tiger Zinda Hai and the espionage thriller has managed a blockbuster opening. “If the opening trend is closely monitored, the film may go on to do huge numbers,” says trade analyst Girish Johar. Reports say that in just three days, TZH had already crossed the Rs 115 cr mark, making the industry rejoice because from here on, the sky is the limit.

Unfortunately for Shah Rukh Khan, the holiday period of 2015 didn’t prove very lucrative when his Dilwale clashed with Ranveer Singh’s  Bajirao Mastani. Since Bajirao received bouquets and Dilwale got brickbats, SRK had to settle for less at the box office. Still in that year, Christmas cumulatively saw a box office collection of Rs. 314 cr.  So, the period didn’t fail the films. In fact, Ranveer tasted his first mega success with Bajirao Mastani.

Everyone in the trade now agrees that the Christmas weekend has emerged as the highest revenue-generating period. In the last decade, this phase has stolen a march over other festival weekends like Eid-ul-Fitr and Diwali.

So far, actors have been civil and reserved different festivals for themselves. However, after the thumping opening of TZH, one can expect a Christmas clash in Bollywood.  Going forward, each of the B-Town biggies is going to try and reserve Christmas for themselves. SRK has already laid claim to Christmas 2018 for his untitled Aanand L Rai film. And, Abhishek Kapoor’s Kedarnath with newbies Sara Ali Khan and Sushant Singh Rajput is meant to release on the same day. As of now, Ranveer is slated to arrive a week later with Simmba.

Like we said, suddenly there’s a war-like atmosphere building around the Christmas period. Will there be cheers or tears, who knows. but many Bollywood egos will definitely be at play.

[Figures (nett gross): Box Office India]