'Dunki' Box Office Collection Day 1: Shah Rukh Khan-Starrer Registers Lower Opening Than 'Adipurush' And 'Gadar 2'
'Dunki', directed by Rajkumar Hirani, starring SRK, Taapsee Pannu and Vicky Kaushal, released in theatres on Thursday.
'Dunki', directed by Rajkumar Hirani, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Boman Irani Taapsee Pannu and Vicky Kaushal, released in theatres on Thursday. The movie which is the third SRK release of 2023, opened to mixed reviews with some calling it a "cinematic masterpiece" while few are calling it a "bore fest." All eyes were on how much 'Dunki' manages to make at the box office on the opening day of its release.
As per early estimates posted by industry tracker Sacnilk, 'Dunki' made Rs 30 crore on Day 1 of its release. With this, 'Dunki' has become the year's seventh-biggest opener after 'Jawan', 'Animal', 'Pathaan', 'Tiger 3', 'Gadar 2' and 'Adipurush'.
'Dunki's opening is, however, bigger than 'Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan' (Rs 15.81 crore), 'Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar' (Rs 15.73 crore), 'Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani' (Rs 11.1 crore) and 'Dream Girl 2' (Rs 10.69 crore).
In the morning shows, 'Dunki' recorded an occupancy of 26.45 per cent and the afternoon shows had an occupancy of 21.77 per cent.
The overall Hindi occupancy on Thursday across India was 29.94 per cent. It needs to be noted that SRK starrer released in theatres on a working Thursday and it might pick up pace over the upcoming Christmas weekend.
For Rajkumar Hirani, the opening day figures are less than his last film 'Sanju', which had collected Rs 34.75 crore.
It is a given that 'Dunki' will witness a significant drop in collections on Friday as Prabhas' 'Salaar: Part 1 - Ceasefire', directed by Prashanth Neel releases in theatres.
Even before its release, 'Salaar' has been posing a significant challenge to 'Dunki' at the ticket counters. Before its opening day, 'Salaar' has already managed to do a business of Rs 35.23 crore from the sale of 16,83,871 tickets.
For the unversed, the first show of the Rajkumar Hirani film in India was held at 5:55 AM on Thursday at Mumbai's iconic single-screen theatre, Gaiety Galaxy.
For the unversed, 'Dunki' marks the first collaboration between SRK and Rajkumar Hirani. This coming together has been 20 years in the making as SRK was the first choice for 'Munna Bhai MBBS', but somehow stars did not align, and the role eventually went to Sanjay Dutt.
On the work front, no one knows what SRK will sign up for next as he has not announced any project after 'Dunki'. However, there are rumours that he might have an extended appearance in his daughter Suhana Khan's theatrical debut directed by Sujoy Ghosh.
