Singham Again or Bhool Bhulaiya 3. This is the moot question as the movies are set for a Diwali release on Friday 1st November. Both the movies are the third instalment of their respective franchisee. Trade analysts and Bollywood are waiting with bated breath to see which movie does better business. The year 2024 has not been particularly good for Bollywood. Though Stree 2 and Fighter did good business but it failed to replicate 2023 when Pathaan, Jawaan and Gadar 2 did extraordinary business. Kalki 2898 AD did phenomenally well but it was a Telugu movie and was dubbed in Hindi.
So Bollywood is in urgent need of a hit which can revive viewer’s interest in returning to theatres. Singham Again and BB3 are both mass films and have big star cast. While BB3 has Kartik Aryan reprising his role as Rooh Baba, Vidya Balan returns as Manjulika. She was the original Manjulika that set box office on fire when BB first released in 2007. Madhuri Dixit is the new addition to the franchise and her inclusion has increased the anticipation level of the movie. Triptii Dimri, who is coming off back-to-back hits with Animal and Bad Newz, is playing the love interest of Rooh Baba . BB3 is being directed by Anees Bazmee. Anees Bazmee last movie as a director was BB2 which was a commercial success. The other thing going in favour of BB3 is the horror-comedy genre of the movie. In recent times movies in this genre has done well, be it BB2, Stree or Stree 2. Audiences have flocked to the theatres to watch these type of films.
On the other hand Singham Again will see Ajay Devgn reprise the role of Bajirao Singham the upright and fearless cop who takes on powerful people. He is an upright officer who is unafraid to take on mighty people. Sigham Again is Rohit Shetty’s cop universe 5th movie after Singham, Singham Returns, Simmba and Sooryavanshi. Somehow you get the feeling that he is trying to create India’s own Marvel Cinematic Universe. That is why in Sooryavanshi we had Ajay Devgn as Singham and Ranveer Singh as Simmba assisting Akshay Kumar towards the end of the movie. Akshay Kumar too plays a cop in Sooryavanshi. Rohit Shetty’s is Bollywood’s go to director when it comes to action films. His movies have large scale action scenes, often involving explosions, car chases, and cars flipping in the air. This “flying cars” signature style has become a hallmark of his action sequences. Comedy too plays a big part in his movies which balances the intense action with humorous exchanges.
Rohit Shetty’s last movie was Cirkus starring Ranveer Singh. Though this movie did not do well but otherwise he enjoys an impeccable box office record. He has so far directed nearly 15 movies so far, 12 of which have been box office winners.
The question that piques everyone’s curiosity is why both the films are clashing when there was ample window for a release in early October, with no major movie releasing at that time. While BB3 announced its Diwali release a long time ago, Singham Again was initially supposed to be released on August 15th, Independence day. The release date of SA got postponed and now it is releasing on Diwali eve. The onus to avoid the clash was thus on SA producers but they have a different version for releasing the movie on Diwali. According to the makers the film has ample reference to Ramayan thus it is only fitting that the movie gets released on Diwali eve, as Diwali is celebrated to mark the return of Lord Ram to Ayodhya.
The advance booking of BB3 has started at online platforms and it has already sold more than 15000 tickets, where as the advance ticket of SA is still to go online. At the time of writing of this article it is still uncertain how many screens are allocated to either movie and which one will get a better opening, but going by the humungous star cast of SA and the box office record of Rohit Shetty it can be predicted with some certainity that the Ajay Devgn starrer and the Rohit Shetty directorial venture will have a better opening.
