Amid fan frenzy of the kind that the Hindi film industry had not witnessed in a very long time, Shah Rukh Khan‘s Pathaan’s box office performance has been better than expected on opening day, and that too without the help of traditional marketing tools. Trade analyst Komal Nahta reported that the film has made Rs 57 crore in India on day one, of which Rs 55 crore is from the Hindi version and the remaining Rs 2 crore from the dubbed Tamil and Telugu versions.
The number would surely have been higher, Box Office India says, if the film was released on a holiday, like Republic Day today. But despite this, Pathaan is now the biggest-ever Hindi debut of all time, overtaking Hrithik Roshan-starrer War (Rs 53.3 crore), Aamir Khan’s Thugs of Hindostan (Rs 52 crore) and the Hindi dub version of the Kannada film KGF: Chapter 2 (Rs 53.9 crore). Pathaan’s Rs 57 crore debut is also higher than the Rs 53 crore that Avengers: Endgame made on its opening day in India, in multiple languages.
It’s out:
‘Pathaan’ day 1 net all-India collections:
Hindi – Rs. 55 crore
Dubbed – Rs. 2 crore
Total – Rs. 57 crore.
Biggest ever opening for a Hindi film. That too, on an odd day which was not a holiday, and the film isn’t a sequel!!
— Komal Nahta (@KomalNahta) January 26, 2023
Pathaan is expected to extend its box office earnings on January 26, Republic Day, and comfortably enter Rs 100 crore club. This will be unprecedented for Hindi cinema and will bring Shah Rukh Khan on top of the biggest earner charts. Globally, the film has already grossed over Rs 100 crore. Pathaan has already posted the biggest numbers for a Hindi film of the pandemic and post-pandemic eras, and the biggest opening day figures of Shah Rukh’s career, overtaking Happy New Year (Rs 44 crore).
Billed as SRK’s grand comeback to starring roles after a gap of over four years, and his first action film after a career playing hearthrobs, Pathaan is an action-spy film that also stars Deepika Padukone and John Abraham. Salman Khan appears in an extended cameo as his character from the Tiger movies, which are also a part of the new shared universe that YRF has set up. The franchise also includes War, directed by Siddharth Anand, who also helmed Pathaan.
Anand has now directed two of the three biggest day-one grossers in Hindi movie history, and SRK has reestablished himself as Bollywood’s biggest star after over a decade of underperformances at the box office. His last film was 2018’s critical and commercial flop Zero, and he has two more movies lined up for 2023 — Jawan and Dunki.
Click for more updates and latest Bollywood news along with Entertainment updates. Also get latest news and top headlines from India and around the world at The Indian Express.
