Well, it has happened, and that too in record time. Dangal is now officially the HIGHEST ALL TIME GROSSER ever in Bollywood, what with Rs. 31.79 crore more coming over the third weekend. With this, the film has now touched the Rs. 345.29 crore mark and has crossed the total of PK [Rs. 340.8 crore]. What makes it all the more special is the fact that the record has been surpassed in 17 days flat and the film is still running on a huge number of screens!
Another fact to be noted is that while Aamir Khan has managed two back to back Rs. 300 crore+ films, he has done that without aid of any holiday at least on its opening day. While PK released on a regular Friday [19th December 2014], it ended up benefitting from the Christmas holiday 25th December 2014 [Thursday] as well as New Year holiday 1st January 2015 [Thursday]. However, Dangal didn't even have this advantage as it released on a regular Friday [23rd December 2016] with Christmas holiday 25th December [Sunday] as well as New Year holiday 1st December 2017 [Sunday] falling on weekdays. Still, it achieved this record!
While Dangal is an All Time Blockbuster already, it is sprinting on a mega pace and has broken the record of PK for the best third weekend ever. It would continue to rule strong during the weekdays as well and around Rs. 15 crore more are expected to be added to its total. Further to that it would slow down in pace though due to arrival of OK Jaanu and xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. However, till then it would have anyways been assured that the Nitesh Tiwari film would come quite close to the Rs. 375 crore mark in its lifetime run.
In fact if not for demonetization, Dangal could well have taken a shot towards the Rs. 400 crore mark!
Nonetheless, the film's super-success has now further established that audiences in India have an appetite to watch a film as long as it is well made and packed correctly. Will there be a Rs. 400 crore grosser in 2017? Which film would that be? Do share your comments!
