Ajay Devgn’s Bholaa has taken a strong start at the box office. The action entertainer, which released in theatres on Thursday on the occasion of Ram Navami, has earned Rs 11.20 crore net on its opening day, a decent number. With sizable collections from the overseas markets as well, the film has managed to breach the Rs 20 crore mark in gross worldwide collections on day one itself.
Bholaa, which also stars Tabu, is a remake of the 2019 Tamil hit Kaithi. But given that it is much larger in scale and has Ajay Devgn’s star power, it was expected to perform better than the original. As per figures released by the film’s producers, it has earned Rs 11.20 crore net in India on Thursday. Sacnilk reported the film had a slightly sub-par 16% occupancy across the country. The site also gives its worldwide gross collection as Rs 20.50 crore.
Bholaa saw advance booking sales of Rs 2.3 crore across India for its first day. Given that it got a mid-week festive opening, Bholaa is expected to put up a strong showing on the extended opening weekend. It will most likely see a dip in collections on Friday but if it holds up well, it can hope to cross the Rs 50 crore mark in its extended weekend.
The Rs 11.20 crore figure means the film has registered the third-highest opening this year by any film, behind only Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan and Ranbir Kapoor’s Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar. Pathaan made an industry record Rs 57 crore on day one in January and Tu Jhothi Main Makkaar made Rs 15.73 crore. In fact, Bholaa has surpassed the opening weekend collection of Akshay Kumar’s Selfiee (Rs 10.30 crore) in one day.
It will be interesting to see how Bholaa holds up on Friday given that the reviews have been mixed to positive. Trade experts are predicting the film to make somewhere around Rs 8 crore on Friday. It would then need strong jumps on Saturday and Sunday to go past Rs 40 crore net for the four-day weekend.
Bholaa is almost a certainty to cross the numbers set by Kaithi. The Karthi-starrer earned Rs 74 crore net in India and just over Rs 100 crore gross worldwide upon its release four years ago. Given that Bholaa has earned one-fifth of that on day one itself, it should cross that figure in week one itself.
