At last, the day of reckoning has arrived for Bollywood films in this year. It has been a considerable amount of time since a Hindi movie opened to great success. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 was a long while back, and the only two films that had opened to double digit figures were Bachchan Paandey and Shamshera. In truth, it appears as though having an opening of Rs 20 crores and above has become a thing of the past, the last movie to have achieved this being Sooryavanshi (Rs 26.29 crores), which was released for Diwali 2021.
The highly–anticipated releases of Akshay’s own Raksha Bandhan and Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha come at an especially important time, as all eyes are eagerly awaiting to see how well they perform at the box office. Both KGF: Chapter 2 (Hindi) and RRR (Hindi) managed to surpass expectations with openings of over Rs. 50 crores and Rs. 20 crores respectively, without the help of any festival season. Despite the lack of a holiday tag, these films managed to successfully generate an appetite amongst audiences and a steady turnout of viewers. With a partial holiday day on Thursday, it will be exciting to see just how big the numbers turn out to be, especially since both movies cater to family audiences.
It is predicted that the collective debut of both releases would garner at least Rs. 30 crores, and this figure is a bare minimum estimate, considering the big–name talents that the two movies have to offer. It is impossible to gauge accurately the individual box–office opening for either Laal Singh Chaddha or Raksha Bandhan, as one film has the advantage of higher priced tickets and more screens while the other has the benefit of wider penetration in smaller towns and more shows. With the fate of the two pictures balancing on a razor’s edge during morning and afternoon screenings, it may be that the film with better content will gain the upper hand in the evening and late night shows. As the battle between these two giants looms, Thursday promises to be an interesting day and a nail–biting affair, with Bollywood expected to emerge the ultimate victor.