Over the years, Independence Day (15 the August) has turned out to be a great time to release movies, especially those with patriotic themes. Here we take a look at some successful and critically acclaimed movies that were released on the eve of Independence Day.
Weekends around festivals and National holidays, are usually the best time to mint money at the box office, although 2020 was an exception due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
This Independence Day, let’s take a look at the movies that were released around Independence week over the years.
As you can see from the list, it’s Akshay Kumar, and also John Abraham, who seems to have a special affinity for the Independence day week for their movies.
Misson Mangal (2019)
‘Misson Mangal’ is a multi-starrer film with Akshay Kumar playing the lead role. The movie is based on the contribution of ISRO scientists towards the Mars Orbiter Mission, India’s first interplanetary expedition. Vidya Balan, Sonakshi Sinha, Taapsee Pannu, Nithya Menen, Kirti Kulhari, Sharman Joshi, and Vikram Gokhale were other actors in the film.
Batla House (2019)
Batla House, starring John Abraham, is based on the Batla House encounter that took place on 19 September 2008, against terrorists hiding in Batla House locality in Jamia Nagar, Delhi.
Gold (2018)
‘Gold’, featuring Akshay Kumar, depicts the journey of India’s first national hockey team to the 1948 Summer Olympics, and how it fetched the first Gold medal for a free India.
Rustom (2016)
Rustom, featuring Akshay Kumar and Ileana D’Cruz is about a naval officer whose wife has an extramarital affair with a businessman. The film fetched Akshay Kumar a National Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Rustom Pavri.
Satyameva Jayate (2018)
Directed by Milap Zaveri, Satyameva Jayate featured John Abraham and Manoj Bajpayee in lead roles, and the film was based on the life of an honest police officer.
Ek Tha Tiger (2012)
Ek Tha Tiger was directed by Kabir Khan and the film starred Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif in lead roles. The film is about an Indian spy who falls in love with a Pakistani agent during an important mission.
Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008)
Siddharth Anand directed Bachna Ae Haseeno starred Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Bipasha Basu and Minissha Lamba in the leading roles. The film did well at the box office, but unlike the other movies in this list, it was more of a masala film.
Sholay (1975)
The iconic film Sholay was released on Independence Day in 1975. Directed by Ramesh Sippy, the film had an incredible star cast including Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Amjad Khan, Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan, ably supported by other great others.
As you can see from the list, the trend in recent years has been to release movies with patriotic themes or hard-hitting social themes, over the Independence day week.