De De Pyaar De has entered the Rs. 100 Crore Club. In the process, it has emerged as the 79th Hindi film to manage this feat. The first Bollywood film to do so was Ghajini [2008] and ever since then the hallmark of a biggie's performance in theaters is being gauged by its entry into the coveted film.
However, in the process, De De Pyaar De has also managed a record which has otherwise been equaled by only 12 films prior to this!
So what is this record? Well, these are the only 13 films in history that started with a first day score of less than Rs. 10 crores and still managed to go past the Rs. 100 Crore Club. Typically, majority of Box Office winners are quite footfall-heavy in the opening weekend and then sustain over a period of time. This is the reason there have traditionally been only a handful of films that opened lesser and still managed to cover a greater distance, all due to the word of mouth coming into play.
This is what has happened with De De Pyaar De as well which has grown from strength to strength over a period of time and emerged victorious. Let's take a look at all these films which entered the Rs. 100 Crore Club (or went beyond) after taking a slow start:
Movie name – Box office collection
Baahubali - Rs. 5.15 crores
Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety – Rs. 6.42 crores
Stree – Rs. 6.82 crores
Badhaai Ho – Rs. 7.35 crores
Raazi – Rs. 7.53 crores
Uri - The Surgical Strike – Rs. 8.20 crores
Barfi! – Rs. 8.50 crores
Golmaal 3 – Rs. 8.50 crores
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag – Rs. 8.65 crores
Tanu Weds Manu Returns – Rs. 8.75 crores
Singham – Rs. 8.94 crores
Ghajini – Rs. 9 crores
De De Pyaar De – Rs. 9.42 crores
Incidentally, De De Pyaar De is one film which came closest to taking a double digit opening and if not for the Thursday evening preview shows which brought in Rs. 1 crore, it could well have opened
over Rs. 10 crores. On the other hand Baahubali set the record for the minimal opening ever for a film which managed to ultimately enter the Rs. 100 Crore Club.
Another point to be noted is that in this list of 13 films, three feature Ajay Devgn in the lead [De De Pyaar De, Sigham, Golmaal Again]. This translates into the fact that he is a 'lambi race ka ghoda' and can well be expected to roar over a period of time on the basis of content that he brings in his films, even if he occasionally starts slow.
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources
