It was in 2023 that Republic Day became a legitimate ‘festive’ weekend in Indian cinema’s release calendar. Shah Rukh Khan returned from his hiatus with Pathaan, and Bollywood breathed again as the film broke box office records. Since then, a patriotic film has released every year on the Republic Day weekend, formalising it as a big event weekend. Till now, no film had come close to what Pathaan had managed. But Sunny Deol’s Border 2 came close this year, almost threatening to knock the SRK blockbuster off its perch
Border 2 vs Pathaan vs Fighter vs Sky Force
Pathaan released on a Wednesday, the eve of Republic Day, giving itself a massive five-day extended weekend. The film broke new ground for Bollywood, minting ₹280 crore net in five days, including a staggering ₹70 crore on Republic Day alone. The following year, Siddharth Anand tried to recreate the magic with Hrithik Roshan in Fighter. The film earned ₹41 crore net on Republic Day and an underwhelming ₹115 crore in its four-day extended weekend. In 2025, Akshay Kumar’s Sky Force fared even worse, opening badly at ₹16 crore, before recovering to earn ₹31.60 crore on Republic Day. Its weekend gross – in three days – was just ₹73 crore.
While many had assumed that Pathaan’s run was a one-off and Republic Day clearly wasn’t an event weekend, Border 2 proved that notion wrong. Riding on a wave of patriotism and nationalism, along with good-old nostalgia, the war drama earned ₹180 crore net in its four-day weekend, including a more-than-impressive ₹59 crore on Republic Day. On January 25, it earned ₹54.50 crore, just 3% shy of what Pathaan had managed on the same date three years prior. Clearly, the Sunny Deol-starrer came agonisingly close to dethroning Pathaan as the king of Republic Day releases. But even as the film failed to do that, it has shown that the weekend holds the power to launch a certain genre of films, and that Pathaan’s mark can be beaten.
All about Border 2
Directed by Anurag Singh, Border 2 is a spiritual sequel to JP Dutta’s 1997 hit Border, which starred Sunny Deol, Suniel Shetty, Akshaye Khanna, and Jackie Shroff. Border 2 brings Sunny back, pairing him with three new leads – Varun Dhawan, Diljit Dosanjh, and Ahan Shetty. The film opened to mixed reviews, but has done exceedingly well at the box office, minting ₹251 crore worldwide in four days.
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