With a 5 am show in Kolkata, a 6 am one in Jaipur and tickets flying off the proverbial shelf, Shah Rukh Khan's latest Jawan is set to break the opening day figures of his own film "Pathaan" with insiders pegging day one earnings at Rs 65-70 crore.
"Jawan", a pan-India thriller that releases on Thursday, is off to a great start with 7.5 lakh tickets already being booked, online ticket booking platform BookMyShow said.
"Out of the 10 lakh capacity on opening day, we've sold about 25 per cent of the tickets, which is like 2.5 lakh tickets sold for Thursday across PVR INOX (screens). It is a very big number and early estimates suggest that it can be bigger than 'Pathaan'," PVR-INOX Ltd Executive Director Sanjeev Kumar Bijli told PTI.
"People are saying that this will be an opening day of Rs 65 to 70 crore, which is bigger than 'Pathaan'. The opening day figure for 'Pathaan' was Rs 55 crore. So hopefully it will be bigger than 'Pathaan'," he added.
Pathaan was a blockbuster, with reported earnings of Rs 1,050 crore. Jawan, described by makers as a high-octane thriller outlining "the emotional journey of a man who is set to rectify the wrongs in the society", could outdo that.
Also starring Vijay Sethupathi and Nayanthara, the film, releasing in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, premieres at a time Bollywood theatrical releases -- most recent being "Gadar 2" and "OMG 2" -- are raking it in.
Mumbai-based trade expert Komal Nahta agreed with Biji's estimate.
"The situation is crazy across single-screen theatres and multiplexes both. It is difficult to predict the business. It will at least do Rs 70 crore on day one (in India)," Nahta told PTI.
In Delhi, the film releases ahead of the G20 Summit on September 9-10 with several heads of state, including US President Joe Biden, set to attend the event. While the city will remain open during the weekend, restrictions will be imposed on a small part of the NDMC area. -- PTI