Out there in Hollywood, there is always a quintessential Valentine’s Day release which has romance and music as the core elements. The phenomenon has surprisingly not really caught up in Bollywood even though for the other holidays, there are many suitable releases planned. 2021 is in any case it is very barren due to pandemic, as a result of which there is no notable release on the Valentine’s Day. However, between 2011-2020, there have been some major releases, romantic as well as well as otherwise. Let’s take a look.
2020 – Love Aaj Kal – (35 crores)
Last year was special as there was a quintessential Valentine’s Day release in the form of Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal. Remake of the 2009 release by the same name, this one had Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan come together. The film did manage to take the biggest opening ever for Kartik Aaryan [12 crores] but audiences were left underwhelmed with what they saw.
2019 – Gully Boy – (140 crores)
If not for the pairing of Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt which brought freshness to the affair, Gully Boy had nothing that hinted of a romantic Valentine’s Day tale. Yes, the film did release on 14th February; however, the core story was that of a Dharavi rapper. Amongst the urban audiences, the Zoya Akhtar directed film in fact did quite well and also bagged quite a few awards.
2018 – Aiyaary (18 crore)
Aiyaary was as far away a film that can be from a romantic musical, what with its core theme being that of a spy thriller. With Sidharth Malhotra and Manoj Bajpayee coming together, there was no romance in the midst of affairs. Yes, there was a soulful number ‘Le Dooba’ but that’s about it. The Neeraj Pandey directed film was a major Box Office disaster.
2017 – Jolly LLB 2 (117 crore)
Akshay Kumar facing Anu Kapoor in a court room drama with Saurabh Shukla as the judge – Now try hunting for any music or romance here! The film released in the season when love is in the air but what one saw was a light hearted take in a court room with a serious angle of terrorism thrown in as well. The film was a Hit though as it entered the 100 Crore Club.
2016 – Sanam Re (32 crore), Fitoor (19 crore)
This was the year when the makers did aim at bringing their musical affairs on Valentine’s Day. Both Sanam Re and Fitoor were aimed at the youngsters and were promoted accordingly. Sanam Re took a good start though owing to its hit music and ultimately settled down as an average affair. As for Fitoor, it was a huge disaster despite Katrina Kaif with Aditya Roy Kapoor.
2015 – Roy (45 crore)
After multiple delays, Ranbir Kapoor starrer Roy ultimately settled for the Valentine’s Day arrival. It made sense too since the songs were huge chartbusters. It later emerged that the film was mainly a psychological drama with Arjun Rampal as the driving force and Jacqueline Fernandez in a very different kind of a double role. The film flopped after a good double digit start.
2014 – Gunday (78 crore)
When the very title of the film is Gunday, one can’t really assume anything romantic in there. Well, director Ali Abbas Zafar did bring in some such elements though with Priyanka Chopra bringing some entertainment with ‘Tune Maari Entriyaan’. That said, the film was more of a bromance with Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor showing off their well chisled bodies and muscles.
2013 – Murder 3 (23 crore), Jayantabhai Ki Luv Story (3 crore)
Two releases, and two flops – this is how Valentine’s Day turned out to be in 2013. There was love as a central element though and the makers did promote it accordingly. Murder 3 had love and revenge going hand in hand but unfortunately flopped despite a good plot. As for Vivek Oberoi and Neha Sharma’s Jayantabhai Ki Luv Story, it was a mega disaster despite good music.
2012 – Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu (40 crore)
Now this was one Valentine’s Day release that did emerge as a good hit for a change. Director Shakun Batra made his debut with this Kareena Kapoor Khan and Imran Khan starrer that boasted of good music and good presentation. Karan Johar ensured that there was good production, marketing, promotion and release and audiences were happy too with what they saw.
2011 – Patiala House (30 crore)
A delayed release, this was an Akshay Kumar starrer which again had nothing at all to do with love or romance. A sports based drama with a family angle to it, there was no scope for any love story between Akshay Kumar and Anushka Sharma in this Nikhil Advani directed film. This one did have good entertainment in there but sadly the audiences didn’t quite root for it.