It was a roaring comeback for the Badshah of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan, as his entertaining spy thriller Pathaan set the box office ablaze. The high octane Yash Raj Films movie set a new record, raking in ₹57 crore as net box office collection on its opening day, beating KGF-2. The Hindi version alone brought in ₹55 crore with Tamil and Telugu dubs netting an additional ₹2 crore.

Worldwide, the gross box office collections for the first day were estimated at ₹106 crore, another new record.

The movie was released in over 5,000 screens in the country. Overall, it opened in about 8,000 screens worldwide. Huge demand for tickets led cinema houses to add early morning shows and even midnight shows. The film’s release at the box office also marked the reopening of several single screen cinemas in the country.

Revival of Hindi films
SRK delivers a blockbuster hit with ‘Pathaan’
SRK’s ‘Pathaan’ saw the biggest opening day net collections at the Indian box office raking in ₹57 crore.Video Credit: Story: Meenakshi Verma Ambwani.

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted that 2023 had started with a bang for the Hindi movie industry. Despite Pathaan opening in mid-week and a non-holiday — Wednesday, it had a historic start with biggest day 1 collections, he said adding “#PathaanMania grips the nation”.

KGF-2 had raked in about ₹53.95 crore on its opening day. Other top grossers include War, action-thriller released in 2019 (₹51.60 crore) and Thugs of Hindostan (₹50.75 crore), according to trade analysts.

“It is good news for the industry because Hindi content has seen a huge setback in the past one year. This will be a huge respite for the industry and this needs to happen at a more consistent basis. We believe the Hindi box office will see recovery back to the pre-pandemic levels during this calendar year,” Karan Taurani, Senior Vice-President, Elara Capital, told businessline.

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