Pathaan Box Office Report: Shah Rukh Khan in a still from the film
Film industry pundits are eyeing the upcoming release of Pathaan, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone, with optimism based on advance ticket sales. Pathaan releases on January 25 and statistics released by trade analysts on Sunday evening showed encouraging numbers – Pathaan is set to fetch monster opening day collections, an oasis in the desert that has been Bollywood's box office performance in the last year. Pundits like Box Office India predict that the first day ticket sales will add up to Rs 30 crore, possibly more. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh reported on Sunday that over 3 lakh tickets had been sold for Pathaan's opening day – the figure is the sum of sales reported by multiplex chains PVR, INOX and Cinepolis.
See Taran Adarsh's tweet here:
Pathaan's advance booking performance matches that of last year's big hit Brahmastra (in which Shah Rukh Khan had an extended cameo). The record for opening day ticket sales is held by KGF: Chapter 2, which sold over 5 lakh tickets on its first day. "The terrific advance bookings of Pathaan have brought abundant cheer and optimism within the industry," Taran Adarsh tweeted.
This is no overstatement – Bollywood's profits took a massive hit last year with film after film performing poorly at the ticket counter, among them well-reviewed releases like Vikram Vedha, starring Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan. A mere handful of films managed to make a dent at the box office, among them Brahmastra, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 and Jugjugg Jeeyo.
The Pathaan effect is also set to resurrect as many as 25 single-screen cinemas that had shut down, Taran Adarsh revealed.
Pathaan, directed by Siddharth Anand and produced by Yash Raj Films, marks Shah Rukh Khan's return to a leading role four years after Zero. He plays the title character, a covert ops agent brought in from the wilderness to tackle terrorist leader Jim, played by John Abraham. Deepika Padukone co-stars as a spy who teams up with Pathaan.