After riding a solid word of mouth, Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt’s Gully Boy is now ruling the box office. The film opened with an Rs 18.7 crore on Valentine’s Day and is expected to only go up from here with positive reviews flowing in, reported trade analyst Taran Adarsh. With Gully Boy box office collection, Ranveer Singh has posted his second highest opening ever while this is the highest first day earning of a film starring Alia Bhatt.

#GullyBoy takes a massive start... #ValentineDay - not an official holiday - has given a big boost... Metros are rocking, contribute to superb total... Thu ₹ 18.70 cr [3350 screens]. India biz.

Directed by Zoya Akhtar, the film tells the story of Murad (Ranveer Singh) who beats all odds to become a successful rapper. It throws light on the hip hop culture in Mumbai and is inspired by the lives of rappers Divine and Naezy.

The film received the Valentine’s Day advantage, especially in the metros. While it is not a holiday, the film received 40-45% opening in most big cities with youth driving the footfalls. According to Box Office India, the film was bigger than Ranveer’s last two releases, Padmaavat and Simmba.

To give a sense of how the film has been received in metros, the website said the film’s collections will be on par with Thugs of Hindostan (Rs 3.75 crore) and Bahubali (Rs 3.5 crore) in Mumbai.

The film has also been riding a solid word of mouth ever since it premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. While many of the international publications gave the film a good review, the audience at the prestigious film festival also greeted it with loud cheers.

Talking about the film’s prospects at the box office, film exhibitor Akshaye Rathi told HT earlier, “The impact of Simmba would be seen significantly on Gully Boy. After an actor comes out of a pan-India hit, the audience obviously anticipates a lot from his next film. After Padmaavat and Simmba, audience is looking forward to Gully Boy.”

Also read: Gully Boy movie review

Ranveer had recorded the highest opening of his career with his last film Simmba that opened at Rs 20 crore. The film also became his and director Rohit Shetty’s highest grosser ever with domestic box office collections of over Rs 240 crore. Alia’s last film Raazi was her highest grosser and collected Rs 123 crore at the domestic box office.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

First Published: Feb 15, 2019 11:21 IST