The King is back: ‘Pathaan’ notches up Rs 57 cr on opening day in India

Mumbai, Jan 26 (IANS) Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s latest release ‘Pathaan’, which was embroiled in a controversy surrounding a saffron colour bikini, has smashed box-office records of Hindi films.

The film has registered a record opening of Rs 57 crore (NBOC) across India. The film, which also stars Deepika Padukone and John Abraham, released in three languages: Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

Of the Rs 57 crore of the film’s business, Rs 55 crores come from the Hindi markets and the rest Rs 2 crores came from Telugu and Tamil territories, as per senior film trade analyst, Taran Adarsh.

This the film bypassed the Hindi collections of ‘K.G.F.: Chapter 2’, which stood at Rs 53.95 crore and the 2019 two hero film ‘War’, which collected Rs 51.60 crore. The latter, too, belongs to Yash Raj Film’s – the production house behind ‘Pathaan’.

In terms of worldwide collections, the film reportedly has minted Rs 100 crore, an achievable feat given that SRK enjoys a rock-solid fan-following among the Indian diaspora.

‘Pathaan’ marks the return of King Khan, as he is known, on the silver screen after 4 long years of wait. His last film was the ambitious ‘Zero’ directed by Aanand L. Rai, which was released in 2018. The film was a box-office disaster as it earned Rs 88.74 crore in India.

Prior to that, SRK’s ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’, which released in 2017, earned Rs 62 crore in India as per Box Office India.

With the Republic Day followed by the weekend, and practically no competition from other tentpoles, it will be interesting to see how things turn for ‘Pathaan’ in the days to come but, for now, Bollywood has a reason to celebrate for the King is ruling the box-office.