Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan defied expectations at the box office on opening day, and that too without the aid of conventional marketing strategies, amid a fan fervour that the Hindi cinema industry had not seen in a very long time. The film grossed Rs 57 crore in India on day one, according to trade analyst Komal Nahta, of which Rs 55 crore came from the Hindi version and the remaining Rs 2 crore from the dubbed Tamil and Telugu versions.
If the movie had been released on a holiday like today’s Republic Day, the figure would have undoubtedly been higher, according to Box Office India. Nevertheless, Pathaan has surpassed Hrithik Roshan’s War (Rs 53.3 crore), Aamir Khan’s Thugs of Hindostan (Rs 52 crore), and the Hindi dub of the Kannada film KGF: Chapter 2 to become the most successful Hindi debut of all time (Rs 53.9 crore). Pathaan’s Rs 57 crore opening is also more than the Rs 53 crore Avengers: Endgame raked in on its first day of release in India, across all of its 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
On January 26, Republic Day, Pathaan is anticipated to increase its box office revenue and easily join the Rs 100 crore club. This will be a first for Hindi film, and Shah Rukh Khan will rise to the top of the charts for highest earners as a result. The movie has already made over Rs 100 crore worldwide. Overtaking Happy New Year, Pathaan has already racked up the highest opening day figures for a Hindi film during the pandemic and post-pandemic periods (Rs 44 crore).
Pathaan, an action-spy movie with Deepika Padukone and John Abraham, is billed as SRK’s triumphant return to leading roles after an absence of more than four years and his first action movie after a career playing hearthrobs. The character played by Salman Khan in the Tiger films, which are also a part of the new shared universe created by YRF, makes a prolonged cameo appearance. Another entry in the series is War, which was overseen by Pathaan director Siddharth Anand.
After almost a decade of underwhelming box office results, SRK has once again cemented his position as Bollywood’s top star. Anand has now helmed two of the three highest day-one grossing Hindi films in history. His most recent movie, the critically and financially disastrous Zero from 2018, and he has two more projects scheduled for 2023: Jawan and Dunki.