New Delhi: Salman Khan-starrer Bharat has managed to hold up well post its grand Eid release, clocking in ₹144.25 crore over its opening weekend. The film is Khan’s 14th ₹100 crore grosser with three films in the ₹300 crore (Tiger Zinda Hai, Sultan, Bajrangi Bhaijaan) and two films in the ₹200 crore club (Kick, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo) respectively. The actor holds the record for the highest number of films in the ₹100 crore category.
“Bharat rocks the box office. Business jumps on day four. Multiplexes join the party, single screens (are) rock-steady. (Is) being patronised by family audiences," trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted.
At ₹41.50 crore, the Ali Abbas Zafar directed film had notched up the second highest first day earnings of all time for a Hindi film, after Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan’s Diwali release Thugs of Hindostan that had made ₹48.27 crore last year. It made about ₹26 crore on Sunday, slightly affected by the Cricket World Cup match between India and Australia but has held up strong thanks to Khan’s star power.
Trade website Box Office India said the second and third biggest grossers of 2019 so far are Akshay Kumar-starrer Kesari and ensemble comedy Total Dhamaal that made ₹151 crore and ₹150 crore in net box office collections respectively, that Bharat should be able to breach within six days of release. It should however, take some work to touch the ₹244 crore earnings of Uri - The Surgical Strike which is the highest grosser of the year so far.
As far as Khan’s Eid releases go, the opening weekend of Bharat is far ahead of action thriller Race 3 ( ₹100.64 crore) and Kabir Khan’s Tubelight ( ₹61.53 crore). It has also beaten Sultan ( ₹105.55 crore ) and Bajrangi Bhaijaan ( ₹101.42 crore).
Not entirely in direct competition with Bharat but the other release this week was Hollywood superhero flick X-Men: Dark Phoenix that had made ₹7.35 crore at last count with 1,480 screens.
“X-Men: Dark Phoenix is maintaining well. Should witness an upward trend on Saturday and Sunday," Adarsh had tweeted on Friday.
