Shah Rukh Khan, it seems, will fight with himself to set records at the box office for Bollywood films. A couple of hours after the advance bookings for ‘Jawan’ opened on Friday (the film releases on September 7), trade analyst Manobala Vijayabalan predicted the movie will be SRK’s second Rs 100-crore opener (worldwide box office) this year.
“That will make him the first ever actor to achieve the feat in Bollywood history,” he tweeted. Besides Khan, the Atlee Kumar directorial features popular south actors Vijay Sethupathi, Nayanthara, and Priyamani in prominent roles. Deepika Padukone has a cameo.
And that ensemble cast has been carefully planned. After four to six quarters of poor showing, Bollywood has realised its movies need a more pan-India appeal to get more viewers into theatres and rake in the big numbers, say analysts. One way to break the jinx is to cast names that are huge outside the north or Hindi circuit, says a media analyst and movie buff.
Releasing also in Tamil and Telugu languages, ‘Jawan’ will likely surpass the opening record of SRK’s January release ‘Pathaan’, which earned over Rs 57 crore on Day 1. Bollywood watchers estimate Rs 80 crore coming in from the Hindi market, plus another `20 crore from the south circuit on Day 1.
So far, PVR has sold 52,700 tickets, INOX 26,500 and Cinepolis 12,200 tickets. That makes it a total of 91,400 tickets sold domestically (excluding blocked seats).
The film’s marketing team has obviously left no stone unturned. Ticket bookings for ‘Jawan’ in the US and Canada, for instance, began almost four weeks ago. If social media posts are anything to go by, the movie has already earned $210,339 (Rs 2 crore) in ticket sales across close to 500 locations in the US. ‘Pathaan’ had collected around $68,000,10 days prior to its release in these two markets. ‘Jawan’ is already way ahead seven days before its release.
The next step for ‘Jawan’ would be to cross Rajinikanth’s action film ‘Jailer’, which has grossed more than Rs 600 crore worldwide, making Rajini the highest paid actor in India.
Whether Jawan gets there or not, PVR INOX bosses are smiling already. In August, the chain reported its highest-ever monthly admissions and box office revenues. Its theatres across the country registered 19 million admissions during the month and recorded a gross box office revenue of Rs 532 crore. “These accomplishments were driven by the blockbuster performance of films released during the month — ‘Gadar 2’ (Hindi), ‘Jailer’ (Tamil), ‘OMG2’ (Hindi) and ‘Dreamgirl 2’ (Hindi),” says a company spokesperson.