Shah Rukh Khan and Sanjay Leela Bhansali duke it out at Bollywood box office

North American movie fans have long gotten used to major Christmas releases coming into cinemas.

But nowadays, Bollywood producers are also recognizing the value of putting out big-budget films at this time of year. That's because there's a vast number of holiday-season moviegoers around the world.

Just as Hollywood is now paying far more attention foreign box-office revenue, the same can be said of Bollywood movie makers.

This weekend there are two monstrous releases: Dilwale and Bajirao Mastani.

Dilwale is an implausible romance-action film-comedy that reunites Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, who's emerged from semi-retirement to play his love interest.

Thanks to modern technology, Shah Rukh and Kajol show that they can indeed walk on water, pose magnificently beside a rainbow-covered waterfall, and dance romantically on top of a mangled airplane fuselage. If there's any doubt, check out the video below.

The film by Rohan Shetty has been critically panned for its script, silly scenes, and mish-mash of genres. 

The public loves Shah Rukh, though, so it's still a hit. The video above was shot in Iceland, which just might stimulate some Indian cinemaphiles to visit the country.

Below, you can see another video from Dilwale.

"Janam Janam", along with parts of the movie, were filmed in Bulgaria, which explains song's the Slavic-sounding melody. 

The other major Bollywood release is famed director Sanjay Leela Bhansali's epic and epically long Bajirao Mastani. It clocks in at 156 minutes, barely beating Dilwale's 155 minutes.

Initially, Bhansali planned to cast Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the lead roles in this grand period piece. However, their ugly break-up many years ago prevented that from ever occurring.

Instead, the director ended up putting Ranveer Singh in the title role of the 18th-century Maratha general who fought the Moghuls. He's opposite the deadly Deepika Padikone, who visited Vancouver last year with Shah Rukh to promote Happy New Year. Veteran Priyanka Chopra, who's equally deadly in the TV series Quantico, plays Bajirao's first wife.

Below, you can see one of the songs, "Aayat", which shows how Indians waged war nearly 300 years ago.

Bajirao Mastani is receiving mixed reviews but everyone seems to like the cinematography, which is a hallmark of Bollywood cinema.

In the battle for box-office receipts. Dilwale has a big lead. This shouldn't come as a huge surprise, given Shah Rukh's magnetic appeal.