Bharat has taken a Blockbuster start at the Box Office. It was predicted in this column that Rs. 30 crores was the bare minimum opening that the Salman Khan starrer was expected to take, Rs. 35 crores was on the cards and with some push, it could well extend towards the Rs. 40 crores mark. For all practical purposes though, a number around Rs. 35 crores was being expected.
However, what happened on Wednesday was sheet magic. The film not just crossed the Rs. 30 crores, Rs. 35 crores and Rs. 40 crores milestone, it continued to earn big with every passing show. As a result, the film recorded a huge Rs. 42.30 crores on its first day. This is simply tremendous since even those with great expectations didn't quite see a number on these lines coming. Still, this actually turned out to be the case and as a result the distributors and exhibitors had a lot to cheer about on the opening day at least.
The combination of Salman Khan and Ali Abbas Zafar has delivered all over again. While their Eid release Sultan had taken a start of Rs. 36.54 crores, Tiger Zinda Hai had scored Rs. 34.10 crores on its first day. Now Bharat has further broken the barrier and set a new benchmark for all involved. This isn't all as for Katrina Kaif too this is yet another huge opening, which is next only to Thugs of Hindostan [Rs. 52.25 crores, across Hindi, Tamil and Telugu] and Happy New Year [Rs. 44.97 crores, across Tamil and Telugu]. As a matter of fact she now holds the record for two out of top three biggest opening ever for a Hindi film.
The start has been made by Bharat and now it is all about consolidating from here on. The film carries a huge advantage of a five day weekend and if collections continue with similar momentum while accounting for the fact that Wednesday was Eid and Thursday and Friday would be regular days, a major total is set to be accumulated before weekdays begin.
