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15 years ago Gadar and Lagaan were released on the same day

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Gautam Chintamani
Gautam ChintamaniJun 21, 2016 | 18:23

15 years ago Gadar and Lagaan were released on the same day

A few weeks ago when Shah Rukh Khan postponed the release of his upcoming Raees to 2017, which originally was speculated to hit the screens on the same day as Salman Khan's Sultan next month, the industry heaved a collective sigh.

While it's not entirely clear if SRK had, in fact, wanted Raees to release on the same day as Sultan, the speculation of the two biggies going head-to-head on Eid was enough to scare both the camps, as wells as the trade about the films eating into each other's business.

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The news about Raees being pushed to next year was confirmed around the same time when two of the biggest blockbusters of the 2000s - Lagaan (2001) and Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001) were celebrating their 15th anniversary.

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Ironically enough, both the films were released on the same day and unlike today, when such a thing would be unimaginable, the thought of eating into each other's collections never crossed their minds.

While hindsight, and, more importantly, the luxury of the passage of time, might make Aamir Khan and Zee Telefilms, who produced Gadar, appear to be quite bold to release the two films on the same day, things were very different in 2001.

At the time of its release, Lagaan was more in the spotlight and the sheer canvas of the film had catapulted it to a different league even during the pre-release stage. On the other hand, the Anil Sharma directed Gadar was being seen as just another release.

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Sunny Deol's popularity had dipped following a spate of non-performers such as Farz (2001), Champion (2000), Dillagi (1999), Salaakhen (1998) and even though he had enjoyed a semi-hit in Arjun Pandit (1999), it was still a far cry from the box office dynamo that his name had become with films like Border (1997), Ziddi (1997) and Jeet (1996).

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Moreover, no one had expected Gadar to be such a colossal hit or strike a chord with audiences across India. But once it caught on, the film went on to become the most watched Hindi film in India.

Contrary to what many believed, both the films not only survived each other but also fueled the other's market. If Lagaan's finesse won it laurels, Gadar's passion bestowed everlasting glory and in the end audiences saw both many times over.

As a matter of fact, Lagaan-Gadar wasn't the first occasion when films featuring Aamir Khan and Sunny Deol were released on the same day. 12 years before the release of their biggest hits up until that point, both Dil (1990) and Ghayal (1990), too, released on the same day and both ended up practically resurrecting their careers.

Following his dream debut in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), Aamir had only had decent box office success in the form of the now largely forgotten Tum Mere Ho (1990). He was being seen as the next Kumar Gaurav, who after a sensational launch in Love Story (1980), was being hailed as the next superstar, but simply failed to deliver another hit.

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Had it not been for Dil, Khan wouldn't have been able to find his footing and similarly it was only with Ghayal that Deol won both commercial and critical acclaim and for the first time emerged from the shadow of his father, the legendary Dharmendra.

Ghayal even got Deol awards like the National Award as well as the Filmfare that always eluded his father. Later, both Khan and Deol were to work together for Yash Chopra's Darr (1993) but differences between Khan and the director saw him exit the film.

Seeing the two together onscreen would have been an ideal culmination of a journey that began with Aamir assisting his uncle, Nasir Hussain, on Manzil Manzil (1984) featuring Sunny, and had crossed a milestone with them delivering career-defining films on the same day.

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If the market was big enough in the early 2000s for a Lagaan and a Gadar: Ek Prem Katha to come out on the same day, how is it that a decade and a half later, when domestically the Hindi cinema market has swelled and globally, too, Bollywood has broken new ground, the thought of two big films releasing on the same day makes everyone see red?

Last year's Dilwale-Bajirao Mastani Diwali clash and this year's anticipated Diwali battle of Karan Johar's Aye Dil Hai Mushkil and Ajay Devgn's Shivaay have rumoured to cost the players their friendship with each other!

With even newer exhibition platforms, such as the Internet and video on demand, shouldn't production houses welcome healthy competition, instead of trying just about every trick in the book to get the other one to shift their films?

Perhaps it's the silent power of the powers that be, which results in screen domination on the opening weekend that forces producers to fight for release dates.

This became evident from the manner in which Ajay Devgn approached the Competition Commission of India against Yash Raj Films (YRF) during the release of his Son of Sardaar (2012).

Devgn had complained that his film lost almost 900 single screens during its release as YRF used its dominance to ensure that their Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012) got preference and alleged that single screens had been told at the time of the release of YRF's Ek Tha Tiger (2012) in August 2012 that if didn't agree to screen Jab Tak Hai Jaan in November, during Diwali they wouldn't get to show a sure-shot blockbuster Ek Tha Tiger in August next year.

In this day and age when reviews are out the moment the first show starts and the word of mouth can kill a film even before the first show is over, all that a producer truly has is the opening weekend for the film to make it or break it.

Maybe that's why this excessive hullaballoo for hogging the attention and the scramble for the "auspicious" release dates.

Last updated: June 22, 2016 | 18:27
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