Saiyaara, which collected Rs 306 crore, would have made more but was was hit by the Mahavatar Narsimha wave.
Mahavatar Narsimha has comfortably gone past the Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) mark in just 10 days, a feat no other Indian animation film in history has done.
In fact, on Saturday it ended up collecting in double digits for the first time in its run, followed by Sunday, and currently stands at Rs 64 crore* (Rs 640 million).
The way it’s going, a lifetime collection in excess of Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) is a given.
Saiyaara, starring Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda, entered the Rs 300 Crore (Rs 3 billion) Club by the third weekend and that consolidates its blockbuster status.
No film since Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai has a newcomer film done this kind of business.
The Mohit Suri directorial has collected Rs 306 crore* (Rs 3.06 billion) so far. It would have made more but was was hit by the Mahavatar Narsimha wave.
It’s exciting times for the box office.
As many as seven films have been gathering audience attention and this hasn’t happened for a long time.
There are last week’s Hindi releases Son Of Sardaar 2 and Dhadak 2, besides Saiyaara and Mahavatar Narsimha.
Then, there’s the Telugu film, Kingdom, and Hollywood releases, Jurassic World Rebirth and F1: The Movie.
Dhadak 2 was always meant to be a word-of-mouth film. The Siddhant Chaturvedi and Triptii Dimri film, despite good reviews, was hit by competition and collected Rs 12.50 crore (Rs 125 million) over the weekend.
Son Of Sardaar 2 would have comfortably taken a double digit opening, but with competition and the sharing of screens with other movies meant that it had to settle for less.
Still, it’s the biggest release of the week and brought in Rs 26 crore (Rs 260 million) over the weekend. But a film of this scale and size needs to do a lot more.
Both Dhadak 2 and Son Of Sardaar 2 have two weeks to collect as much as they can before War 2 and Coolie arrive on the big Independence weekend.
Vijay Deverakonda’s Kingdom took a very good start in Telugu on Thursday.
Its Hindi version, Samrajya, was a token release and is a complete disaster.
*Estimates.
Note: All collections as per various box office sources.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff