Jab Tak Hai Jaan and the top Diwali busts in Bollywood

Diwali hasn’t been all that crackling for Bollywood. Of more than 30 films released in the past decade during the festival, less than a dozen elicited fireworks at the box office. But this year seems promising with “Jab Tak Hai Jaan” (JTHJ) and “Son Of Sardaar” (SOS) lined up to hit the screens Nov 13, Diwali day itself.

Both are biggies. JTHJ is Yash Chopra’s last directorial venture, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma, while SOS is a comic caper with Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt and Sonakshi Sinha in key roles. Chopra’s sudden death Oct 21, before he could can the last song for the film in the Swiss Alps, has generated more interest in JTHJ, expected to be the last reflection of his kind of romantic, sensitive and picture perfect cinema.

The film is expected to set the cash registers ringing — given the past record of Shah Rukh’s Diwali releases, including “Baazigar” (1993), “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” (1995), “Dil To Pagal Hai” (1997), “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai” (1998), “Veer-Zaara” (2004), “Don: The Chase Begins Again” (2006) and “Om Shanti Om” (2007).

But those appeared to be the exceptions. Shah Rukh’s “Mohabbatein” (2000) and mega-budget “RA.One” (2011), released around the festival, didn’t quite ruffle up the ticket counters beyond the opening weekend.

All in all, Diwali hasn’t brought much ‘Lakshmi’ to Hindi films, even if the festive season is considered to be a good time to release films, given the holiday mood. Some films indeed went on to be winners but most tanked at the box office.

Of the three films – “RA.One”, “Tell Me O Kkhuda” and “Damadamm!” – released around Diwali last year, the latter two were hardly visible due to the extensive promotion of Shah Rukh’s Rs.150 crore budget entertainer. If the first two bombed, even “RA.One” failed to generate the expected response.