Dilwale surges ahead of Bajirao Mastani on opening Friday

Proving trade predictions right, movie emerges with higher collections on premier day at Rs 21 crore; Bajirao Mastani rakes in Rs 13 crore

In line with predictions, Shah Rukh Khan’s Dilwale has beaten Bajirao Mastani in the race to a better opening day collection. The Rohit Shetty film, which also stars Kajol, Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon, raked in approximately Rs 21 crore on the opening Friday as compared to Rs 12.8 crore collected by Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bajirao Mastani.

In one of the biggest box office clashes in the history of Bollywood, Khan and Bhansali presented their fares to the audience on December 18. This is the second time the two have locked horns at the box office. In 2007, the Khan’s Om Shanti Om released on the same day as Bhansali’s Saawariya. The former went on to become one of the highest grossers of that year, while Saawariya tanked.

This year, the parties are more equally matched, say analysts. Before the release, experts said that Dilwale was most likely to have a better opening but Bajirao Mastani would eventually close the gap, making make more money overall. Suniel Wadhwa, independent distributor and box office analyst says, “Considering that one movie [Dilwale] has more mass appeal, it was never expected to be a neck-to-neck race for the opening figures.”

	Dilwale	Bajirao Mastani
Cost (Rs cr)	110	145
Screens	2,850	3,050
Opening day collection (Rs cr)	21	12.8
Produced by	Red Chilies Entertainment and Rohit Shetty Films	SLB Films and Eros International
Distributed by	PVR	Eros International
Source: Industry estimates

However, trade pundits also believe that had the films released on separate Fridays, each had a chance of getting a big opening. “If this [performance] is compared with solo releases, then the highest non-holiday opening day collection belongs to Dhoom 3 with Rs 32 crore followed by Kick with Rs 26 crore,” he says. Had Dilwale and Bajirao Mastani hit theatres on different days, they would have made Rs 30 crore and Rs 20-22 crore on the opening day, respectively,” adds Wadhwa.

Earlier this year, Sooraj Barjatiya’s Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, which released a day after Diwali (November 12), made Rs 40 crore (for the Hindi release) on its opening day. It is common to have just one major release on a holiday weekend. Given the massive scale at which Dilwale and Bajirao Mastani have been made, the two films releasing on the same day has impacted business.

In terms of occupancy, Dilwale fared better averaging around 70 per cent across theatres in the country. Bajirao Mastani on the other hand, had an occupancy of around 50 per cent, only picking up pace towards the second half of the  day. In terms of show share, almost 60 per cent of the shows at multiplexes went to Dilwale and the remaining went to Eros’ Bajirao Mastani. This has also impacted collections.

Both the movies will have to maintain momentum at the box office in order to make the most of the three-week window they have at cinema halls. The next big release from Bollywood is on January 8 — Wazir, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar. Next week, cinema halls will be playing Star Wars-The Force Awakens. Disney intends to release the film in more than 1,500 screens, which will lead to limited visibility for Bollywood releases.

“As an exhibitor, one always prefers one big release every Friday. Having two big releases  impacts collections for both movies,” says Devang Sampat, chief of strategy at Cinepolis, one of India’s largest multiplex chains.

“In case of Dilwale and Bajirao Mastani, the former picked up from the word go, while the latter took its time. By then end of the day, both had around 70-75 per cent occupancy at Cinepolis screens across the country,” he says. Sampat adds that there is likely to be a capacity issue with the release of Star Wars next week, even though it is likely to cater to a completely different audience.