+1 for the post.
I still couldn't decode the trend of Sultan like the trade.
Bahubali 2 the Conclusion well, it's self explanatory. It will take a while till we see a film have this level Pan Indian appeal. Definitely unlike Saaho missing the mark.
Khalnayak, honestly reading about it, is total fun. To know the craze & mass hysteria Sanju factor had created & how the infamous song was turned into it's advantage like anything. The two factors which were enough to turn the crowd away became the sole crowd pullers for this.
Trimurti, you can see how the trade was hyped up & even the audience interest was earned. The Subhash Ghai factor again, casting 3 hot names. If the film was accepted, it would have been the one to be spoken for ages.
Biwi No.1 for some strange reason has been a surprise to me when I found out. Ofcourse mainly because I vividly remember the article of Hum Saath Saath Hain weekend collections so always pictured it above.
Hindustan Ki Kasam, I totally remember the articles of it being the biggest film to release. Also the biggest opener. But then not the weekend due to HSSH article even though it said after the week, HSSH couldn't sustain. But Hindustan Ki Kasam, I remember the craze too, Sushmita Sen & ah those graphics. Our local cable channel used to air the films illegal print, had watched the film like that.
Karan Arjun & Border were news to me till BOI.
Koyla too. But then Koyla craze was only due to the hyped action scene where Srk almost lost his leg to the helicopter during the chase scene & that one hit song. Had waited for years to catch the film on Doordarshan. Disliked it the moment the reason for him being mute was revealed. So yeah, the weekend collections are justified.
Refugee & Mission Kashmir were the ones I was aware even before BOI thanks to screens magazine/news paper. It used to have collections week wise. My favorite time pass until mom stopped the news paper guy from delivering it along with sportstar.
K3G & Indian were in the period, I wasn't allowed to watch movies or read about them. High school days.
Main Hoon Na, holidays time & none of had pocket money to watch the film.
Veer Zaara is the one 40 of us contributed on Saturday morning show. The whole controversy, I have shared earlier. With protests turning violent with people threatening to burn themselves if the film was released in Karnataka. Us 40, were the rebels who chose to watch. As much as I loved the film, personally I awaited for Swades release the most.
Fanaa too. Despite the ban. The craze was real. Watching it with the housefull crowd who didn't happen to like the film as majority crowd were college students. One of the film where I had gone to the theater hours early to stand in the que to buy the tickets, come back home after buying the tickets to pick up my sister & aunt. Those were the days.
Krrish again BOI. Because never watched it in theater & since we rented the Pi-rated copy vcd, me & my friend trolled the film. It was only in 2008-09, my dad watched it & the way he loves the film till date (all 3 in the franchise), the film earned a special spot.
Dhoom 2. Well again no need to explain about the craze. We had been to the theater at 8am in the morning to get the tickets bunking classes. Engineering days. Anyways, unanimously the biggest film of 2006 with never seen before craze.
Om Shanti Om toh I can vouch. This is the film I thoroughly enjoyed in the theater & the moment came out, all of us disliked it instantly. But the craze was real. Had watched it in Gayathri talkies Mysore, a theater known for screening majorly Kannada films, the distributor owing to meet the demand had released the film in this theater too.
Singh Is Kinng had the craze. It had everything going in it's favour. Again I had caught it in the theater & yes, housefull show, in Mysore, that too heavily Punjabi flavoured & most importantly Akshay Kumar starrer. An Akshay solo starrer going Housefull in Mysore was a rare thing those days, which changed big time in 2007 with Namastey London (though my show had less people, later it did had a run), Heyy Baby & Bhool Bhulaiyaa (despite Apthamitra had 365 days run, this remake was accepted in Mysore).
And anything since Ghajini has been much witnessed by everyone. Ghajini, 3 Idiots & Ra.One took marketing to another level & so did the opening weekend collections. I say, these 3 films ensured Reliance spent 20cr exclusively for Bodyguard marketing, which again clicked even though Salman was enjoying the megastardom phase which just reached another level with ETT.