Clash of Titans: Diwali crackles with Singham Again & Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3

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Get set, folks, for a rare bountiful Diwali, as trade guru Komal Nahta predicts. The Hindi film industry is in for one more mega-clash with Singham Again and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, both set for a grand release on November 1.

The former has a star-cast of mammoth proportions—Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Deepika Padukone and Tiger Shroff joining the cop universe, Arjun Kapoor, Jackie Shroff and, with ‘guest cops’ coming in from director Rohit Shetty’s cop universe—Simmba Ranveer Singh and Sooryavanshi Akshay Kumar as well along with Salman Khan in a Dabangg-based Chulbul Pandey cameo! Phew! Now, that’s a cast that is virtually phenomenal: nine heavyweights in all!

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 has not just Kartik Aaryan but also Madhuri Dixit Nene, Vidya Balan (the original Manjulika from Bhool Bhulaiyaa in 2007) and Triptii Dimri, with the franchise’s sterling character artistes Rajpal Yadav and (from the second film in the series), Sanjay Mishra.

So which film will win—or lose? Or will both be powerful enough to become blockbusters?

The Win-Win Situation

“Ideally, there should be no clash in that sense!” opines Komal Nahta. “Both promos, after all, are looking extraordinary. It is the theatres that will be in a dilemma in the matter of allotting screens and shows! I believe the single-screens are already well-adjusted, while the multiplexes will see some kheencha-taani (tug-of-war situation) but not a full-fledged war as has happened once or twice in the past. It is the bane of theatres to live in tension during Diwali when there are more than one releases happening, but both films this time are equally hot! I expect the screen and show divisions in some ‘plexes to be 60:40 for Singham Again and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and at worst 55:45 in others!”

Notes distributor and exhibitor Raj Bansal, “Diwali and Eid are the best two dates in any year to release more than one film! And usually, it will always be one good versus one average film. It will be the weaker film that will lose the most. Yes, ideally, they should not have clashed, therefore, but then every producer thinks that his own movie is the best! But both films will do well if they are good.”

Bansal adds, “Unlike the three-way Independence Day clash when Stree 2 had a roaring advantage over its co-releases, this time, the battle is there but will not be a rout for the second-most appealing movie. If one film makes, to take just a number, 100 crore, the other can make 80!”

But he openly says that Singham Again will have, all other things being equal, a much better opening. “I don’t remember a film with a big assembly of stars at all in the last many years, so for GenZ, this will be a new experience! What can be better than watching nine stars together for the price of a Rs. 400 ticket?”

He adds, “Then the director has also blended Ramayan into his story, just like the South filmmakers blend mythology in their modern subjects, and if well-made, the audience will come out happily, feeling, “Diwali mein acchi picture dekhi (We watched a good film during Diwali)!”

Nahta points out that both franchises are big, and this is the third film in both the series. He agrees that Singham Again will have an edge because of its cast, but points out that the Madhuri-Vidya combination of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 has created a “different kind of buzz altogether.”

Music, as Stree 2 and the mega-grossers of 2023 have shown, remains a major pulling factor, and in that respect, it’s a wait-and-watch situation, notes Bansal. “The music seems very average and even the Pitbull-Diljit Dosanjh aspect of the Neeraj Shridhar title-track of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 seems more gimmicky than anything else! The audiences now are smarter and they won’t be taken in by such things anymore!” The other film’s music has not even been properly promoted.

About the music, Nahta sums up, “I sincerely cannot answer the question of why music isn’t taken advantage of by today’s filmmakers. Music is our culture! And today, among the prolific names, I feel that only Karan Johar and Dinesh Vijan give importance to their songs!”

But wouldn’t things have been better if these two movies had been spaced out? Bansal nods and feels that the smaller film should have waited for at least a week. But Nahta asserts, “Yes, an ideal gap would have been even three or four weeks, but every producer thinks that Diwali is a great occasion, to main kyoon chhodoon (so why should I leave the occasion)?”