Salman Khan is returning to the big screen on Eid with Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, his first big release in two years. The film releases on Friday, a day before the festival, and the morning shows are already running to packed houses. Initially, advance booking numbers had remained low, leading to many wondering if the film would fare well. But the trend picked up on the eve of release and mass circuits are expected to turn up for Salman, giving the film a chance of one of the best openings of the year so far.
Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, directed by Farhad Samji, is releasing in 4500 screens with 16000 shows across India. That is a wide release, one of the widest for any Hindi film ever. Given that the film is releasing one day before the festival of Eid, the opening will not be as high as some of Salman’s previous Eid openers. The final advance booking numbers of Rs 3.39 crore for day one are indication of a decent opening though
Trade experts are now predicting a Rs 16-18-crore opening day for Kisi Ka Bhai..., which will make it the second-highest-opening Hindi film this year, ahead of Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar and behind only Pathaan. If word of mouth is positive, the numbers couold touch Rs 20 crore as well. Given that Salman’s popularity is immense in tier-2 and tier-3 centres that depend onwalk-ins over advance bookings, 20 crore is not an impossible target. However, it all depends on how the audiences like the film in the morning and afternoon shows.
Given that Eid falls on Saturday, trade experts are also predicting a ‘huge surge’ in numbers from Saturday. Trade analyst Komal Nahta tweeted on Wednesday, “For all those thinking, KKBKKJ will open to bumper houses, please remember, it’s a pre-Eid release. Hence the first day’s collections will be good, not outstanding. They will shoot up on Saturday if Eid falls on that day.”
One can expect KKBKKJ to see 30-40% growth on Saturday, which means it could very well have a Rs 70-crore opening weekend in terms of net domestic collections alone. Whether it manages to do that or not totally depends on the buzz it generates post release.
Directed by Farhad Samji, Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan also stars Pooja Hegde, Venkatesh Daggubati, Jagapathi Babu, Jassie Gill, Raghav Juyal, Siddharth Nigam, Shehnaaz Gill, Palak Tiwari, and Vinali Bhatnagar.
