Between Shah Rukh Khan's Thursday release Dunki and Prabhas' Friday release Salaar, around Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) have come in at the box office.
This is not a bumper score because 2023 has been the kind of year when major blockbusters have scored as much in the first three days itself. When even Rs 500 crore have become a norm, collections like these seem low.
Still, the numbers scored by Dunki and Salaar are good enough.
Dunki scored a century in its first four-day run.
The film was expected to top the Rs 30 crore (Rs 300 million) mark on Thursday, but fell short. It finally hit that on Sunday, the fourth day of its release, and in the process, ended up scoring Rs 105.63 crore* (Rs 1.056 billion) overall.
The combination of Shah Rukh Khan and Rajkumar Hirani was expected to bring in bigger results, but now the aim would be to enter the Rs 200 Crore Club (Rs 2 billion) at least.
On the other hand, Salaar (Hindi) is a bigger earner than Prabhas' Saaho.
The 2019 release had done a business of Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) in the Hindi version and right now, Salaar (Hindi) stands at Rs 51 crore* (Rs 510 million).
The film did better than expected business since it clashed with Dunki at the box office, and getting screens had been a challenge.
Still, the film has done well enough to hit the Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) mark for the first time on Sunday. While it will eventually cross the Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) mark, it will be the journey from there till Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) that will be closely observed.
Not an easy task for the Prashant Neel directorial, but the holiday season will come in handy.
*Estimates. Final numbers awaited.
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources.
