Box Office India Records

There was a clash thirty years back on this day when a veteran actress scored over one of the emerging Khans who would go on to become a huge star in the next decade. The film featuring the Khan was expected to do better but it lost the fight from day one.

The clash was between Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin which featured Aamir Khan and Phool Bane Angaray which was a heroine orientated film with Rekha. Phool Bane Angaray was not expected to do well as there was a supposed to be a lot of negativity around Rekha and this was the case with the media and within the industry. This was because her husband had commited suicide and the industry and media was putting the blame on her.  But Phool Bane Angaray which released around this time opened to excellent reponse all over and sustained very well.

The first day collections of Phool Bane Angaray were better than Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin even in Mumbai city though eventually Dil Hai ke Manta Nahin fared better in Mumbai city. The only cities across india where Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin opened better were Bangalore and Chennai and this was because Phool Bane Angaray opened a week later in Bangalore and almost a month later in Chennai so lower comparable collections were pretty much invetable. Hyderabad was lower on day one but went ahead by the end week.  

In a major metro like Kolkata it was a one horse race as the collections of Phool Bane Angaray were double of Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin. The main centre of Bihar, Patna did collected more than three times higher and it was a similar story in Indore and Bhopal. In Delhi it was tight as Dil Hai ke Manta Nahin nearly caught Phool Bane Angaray by the end of week one but Phool Bane Angaaray remained 20% ahead despite having cinemas with lower capacities. However if we take the numbers from the whole circuit of Delhi / UP be it day one or final then Phool Bane Angaray won by a distance. 

In the final run Phool Bane Angaray emerged a Solid HIT while Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin was Semi Hit / Average fare mainly due to a pretty good run in Mumbai city. There was a third angle in this clash with Hafta Bandh which had Jackie Shroff as lead but that film managed a good initial in Maharashtra only and that was all it could as it faded fast.

The year gone by was a disaster for films and actors with hardly any actors finding appreciation but the one that did was Ajay Devgn for Tanhaji The Unsung Warrior and it turned out to be a one horse race for best actor. The applause that Ajay Devgn got in cinemas of Maharashtra has not been seen in a long time. It could be due to the local flavour of the film but you still have to perform well to get the response.

It was a one horse race in 2020 because of the pandemic but even if the year was normal then still Ajay Devgn would have had a good chance of coming out on top. There may have been some films which challenged the numbers but it would have been tough. The only other actors to get some eyeballs this were Tiger Shroff, Akshay Kumar and Varun Dhawan be it in theatres, OTT or television but it was mid level appreciation and probably mainly from fans. Sushant Rajput also got eyeballs with Dil Bechara which released post his death on Hotstar but the situation was totally different a few months later on television when the film got dreadfull ratings.

Ajay Devgn gave the biggest HIT of the year with Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior and the last time this happened was in 1991 with his first release Phool Aur Kaante which was the biggest HIT of 1991. The difference being that Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior was the biggest HIT and the biggest GROSSER while of 2020 Phool Aur Kaante was the biggest HIT but the second biggest grosser in 1991. Phool Aur Kaante was second to the Subhash Ghai magnum opus Saudagar but Phool Aur Kaante had far lower costs than Saudagar making it a bigger HIT.

The situation was similar to 2019 when Kabir Singh was the biggest HIT while War was the biggest grosser. Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior recorded the highest footfalls ever for an Ajay Devgn film and was his third film to cross 2 crore footfalls after Phool Aur Kaante and Ishq. The film also had the second highest footfalls in the the last two years after Kabir Singh. The biggest BLOCKBUSTER of your career and huge applause for a performance from the audience which stands out made it Ajay Devgns year.

Coincidently Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior and Phool Aur Kaante both clashed with female orientated films which starred the top actresses of the respective times. Phool Aur Kaante clashed with Lamhe featuring Sridevi and Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior clashed with Chhapaak featuring. Deepika Padukone. Both Lamhe and Chhapaak were huge FLOPS and totally rejected by the public.