Bharat box office collection Day 1: Salman Khan film to have a great opening

Bharat is a Salman Khan film, so a huge opening is almost guaranteed. It is also an Eid release, which pays rich dividends for Salman’s movies (except the last two times, though, when both Race 3 and Tubelight flopped). What’s more, Salman shares screen space with Katrina Kaif, whose pairing in films have been huge successes.

Bharat is helmed by Ali Abbas Zafar, who also directed Salman and Katrina in 2017 hit Tiger Zinda Hai.

Film Trade analyst Girish Johar earlier told indianexpress.com, “Since the audience has a lot of options in terms of content because of an influx in the number of web series, Bharat has to match up to the expectations of the audience. For me, definitely, Salman will open, but Ali Abbas Zafar is the key to this film.”

Girish said Bharat will likely earn Rs 35 crore. “Owing to a wide release in over 4000 screens, I will peg the day one box office collection of Bharat at Rs 35 crore,” he said.

Bharat has received mixed critical reception. The Indian Express’ film critic Shubhra Gupta gave it two-and-a-half stars and wrote, “There’s enough conviction in these portions which carries Bharat and us through, even though Khan is given enough hero-giri moments to keep him foregrounded at all times. You get a sense of time past, of faded history in the recreation of those grand-but-tawdry circuses, and the ‘maut ka kuans’, which are now relegated to small-town fairs, and job-hungry Indians chasing the oil boom in the Gulf, as hard-working labour.”

“It’s a pity that the director-star duo don’t take this as far as they could. They had a story which had the potential to become a solid reckoner of post-Independence nation-building, and how things rolled from then on, and a free hand to craft it. But the opportunity is squandered in unnecessary songs and dances, an aiming-for-cheap-laughs comic thread which involves making a stutterer the butt of jokes, and improbable situations: want to meet Hindi-film-song-loving-sea-pirates? Step right up,” she added.