New Delhi: The year 2015 has been immensely rewarding for Bollywood. The year which is nearing end saw big releases, bigger stars and biggest box office collections. We saw superstar Salman Khan's deliver two blockbuster movies, ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan' and ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo'. It was also the first time that an essentially regional movie, Baahubali, worked exceptionally well pan India, smashing records like never witnessed before. Akshay Kumar's ‘Singh Is Bliing' became the highest grosser on opening day in his career earning Rs 20 crores.
With ‘Bajirao Mastani' and ‘Dilwale', release yesterday, the box office geared up for a battle. The clash was termed unfortunate by trade pundits, as they feared that one will eat the business of the other movie, affecting the overall business of the industry.
As expected, ‘Dilwale' overshadowed ‘Bajirao Mastani's' in terms of first day collections. The former earned approximately Rs 21 crores and the latter Rs 12.80 crores.
Superstar Shah Rukh Khan had only one release this year and it shouldn't come as a surprise that his movie saw a bumper opening. But as compared to his last Diwali release Happy New Year, ‘Dilwale' did not even come close as the Farah Khan directorial had raked Rs 44.97 crores on the day one.
Unfortunately, ‘Dilwale' was far behind the benchmark set by Salman Khan this year. ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan' and PRDP earned Rs 27 crores and Rs 40 crores respectively. Given the scale with which SRK was seen promoting ‘Dilwale', the numbers doesn't seem to quite justify it.
Although, overseas SRK's charm has worked well, back home he did not wake up to magical results. The Rohit Shetty directorial has also been slammed by many in the Internet arena. Many of SRK's die hard fans are disappointed because he chose a movie which lacked soul. Critics pointed out that the chemistry of Kajol and SRK is what makes this movie worthy, but that too couldn't impress them enough. Memes about the film have been doing the rounds of social media since yesterday.
There is no denying that with such a terrific opening, Dilwale will be a super hit; just not as huge as Baahubali, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, PRDP or even Happy New Year.
This year can also be seen as the game changing one in the film industry. SS Rajamouli's Baahubali is a proof of that. Despite being a regional movie, ‘Baahubali' created history by earning around Rs 60 crores globally on the first day itself.
With no major Bollywood releases till 8th January one can expect ‘Dilwale' and ‘Bajirao Mastani' to make more money over days.
