Jinxed January? Once considered inauspicious for a film release, the notion seems to be changing

2016

Again in 2016, Akshay Kumar took the risk of releasing his film 'Airlift' in the month of January and it proved fruitful for him. 'Airlift' was one of the highest grossing films of the year 2016 as it crossed Rs 124 crore at the box office. Though 'Mastizaade', 'Wazir' and 'Kya Kool Hain Hum 3' failed, 'Airlift' gave a glorious beginning to the year 2016. So now, do we still call January month a jinxed month for Bollywood films? May be not!

2015

Though Sonakshi Sinha and Arjun Kapoor’s ‘Tevar’ failed at the box office, we had Akshay Kumar’s ‘Baby’ having a strong hold on box office numbers in the month of January 2015. With critical acclaim pouring in from all corners ‘Baby’ raked in approximately Rs 81 crore at the box office which is a good number.

2014

The January in 2014 was also a successful one for Bollywood films. Salman Khan’s ‘Jai Ho’ crossed Rs 100 crore, while ‘Yaariyan’ was a semi hit with Rs 39 crore in its kitty. 'Dedh Ishqiya' proved to be a flop though!

2013

In 2013, we had Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham and Nargis Fakhri’s ‘Race 2’ making it big at the box office in the (not so) 'jinxed' month of January. The film proved to be good enough to rake in approximately Rs 94 crore at the box office. Too good for January, right?

2012

Hrithik Roshan’s ‘Agneepath’ that released in January 2012 proved to be a game changer. It was one of the highest grossing films of that year crossing Rs 100 crore mark at the box office. The other two films ‘Players’ and ‘Ghost’ were a flop.

2011

From here onwards, the jinxed January notion changed. We witnessed two hit films this year in the month of January. Deol family’s on-screen drama, ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana’ became a hit film by crossing Rs 50 crore mark and the second one was Rani Mukerji’s ‘No One Killed Jessica’, that became a semi-hit film of that year.

2010

The year 2010 witnessed a January flooded with as many as five films releases. But all of them disastrous! Salman Khan’s ‘Veer’ fared below average while Vidya Balan’s charm in ‘Ishqiya’ failed to make it big at the box office. As a shocker ‘Veer’ managed to collect only Rs 38 crore at the box office. ‘Ishqiya’ minted approximately Rs 22 crore, ‘Chance Pe Dance’ accumulated approximately Rs 9 crore, ‘Pyaar Impossible’ approximately Rs 5 crore and ‘Rann’ minted approximately Rs 9 crore at the box office, turning out to be the biggest failure of that year.

2009

2008 had three films releasing in January and all three were unfortunately flop. Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone's 'Chandni Chowk To China' was termed disaster with merely Rs 29 crore in kitty while Farhan Akhtar's 'Luck by Chance' that earned approximately Rs 12 crore in pocket, can be called the biggest flop of his career.

2008

Not many films released in the month of January in 2008, but whichever did they failed to attract the audience to the theatres. 'Halla Bol' and 'Sunday' were the two films that released, but both of them were disappointing. By earning Rs 20 crore and Rs 12 crore respectively, 'Sunday' and 'Halla Bol' gave a dull start to the year 2008.

2007

Starting with 2007, we had three films releasing that year in the month of January, 'Guru', 'Salaam-e-Ishq' and 'Risk'. Though 'Guru' managed to do decent business at the box office because of the critical acclaim that it received, 'Salaam-e-Ishq' was a disaster despite being a multi-starrer film. Faces like Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Govinda, John Abraham and others also could not save this film from failure. The third one 'Risk' went unnoticed altogether.