How Salman took over the Eid weekend

Image: Salman Khan in Wanted

Over the last few years, the Khans have each taken up a particular festive weekend, and made it their own.

Aamir Khan, for example, has cornered the market on Christmas -- after hits like Taare Zameen Par, Ghajini and Three Idiots -- while Shah Rukh Khan likes coming to our screens every Diwali.

And while Diwali was always a big weekend for Bollywood films, Salman Khan has actually made Eid releases important, largely starting with Wanted in 2009.

Here's a look at how he has slowly and surely made a dent into the Eid market and given fans something to rejoice about.

Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003)

Image: A Kal Ho Naa Ho movie poster

Karan Johar's 2003 release Kal Ho Naa Ho came out around the Eid weekend, and was a huge hit.

The romcom starring Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta might have won over audiences, but trade pundits saw that as the film's strength, with no specific help from the Eid weekend per se.

Still, chalk one up to Shah Rukh.

Aitraaz / Naach / Mughal-E-Azam / Veer-Zaara (2004)

Image: A Veer Zaara movie poster

Things changed in 2004 when Eid and Diwali coincided, and the industry bombarded screens with four high-profile releases.

Mughal-E-Azam, Aitraaz and Shah Rukh starrer Veer-Zaara performed spectacularly, while Ram Gopal Varma's Naach lost out during the festive season.

Don/Jaan-E-Mann (2006)

Image: A Don movie poster

Salman Khan's first big Eid release came during 2006, another year where Eid and Diwali coincided, as did Salman and SRK.

Shah Rukh's Don remake got the all-important opening, however, and while Jaan-E-Mann might have been the better film, Salman's first taste of the big Eid weekend wasn't a sweet one.

Wanted (2009)

Image: A Wanted movie poster

Everything, however, changed in 2009, when Salman's long-awaited Wanted, stuck in production and distribution issues forever, hit the screens.

The film was a spectacular success, a runaway success far bigger than any of Shah Rukh's films in the last few years, and suddenly Eid was a major weekend, one that films could be scheduled around. And it was all because of Sallu's Wanted.

Dabangg (2010)

Image: A Dabangg movie poster

2010 might have started on a lean note for Salman with the atrocious Veer, but all was forgiven come Eid as he wore a moustache and brought the country one of its biggest ever hits.

Audiences lapped up Dabangg as if they'd been starved of Salman, and the trade accepted that Sallu Bhai was now an integral part of the Eid weekend, one that he'd created from scratch.

Bodyguard (2011)

Image: A Bodyguard movie poster

This year Salman is all poised for an Eid hat-trick with his latest, Bodyguard, and all the signs look very positive.

The actor's popularity has only gone up, and even awful films like Ready have shaken up the box office big time; he's working with Kareena Kapoor, the industry's most sought-after heroine, after non-entities like Asin and Sonakshi Sinha; and he's singing a song evidently in ode to his own biceps.

What else could the festive movie-goer ask for?

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