“It’s unprecedented. Even hardcore optimists could not have imagined the film would cross the Rs20crore mark,” says trade analyst Taran Adarsh, adding that according to the collections tracked by him, the first day net collections should be around Rs20.25crore. “This is not just a record for the biggest opening-day gross, but also the biggest gross for a single day ever.”
The previous record, he says, was held by Dabangg, which had grossed Rs18 crore on Eid last year, on a Sunday. What this means is that there are chances that Bodyguard might better its opening day collection this Sunday.
Prakhar Joshi, head of programming at PVR Cinemas, says the film opened well in all of the multiplex chain’s 35 properties.
“Dabangg had grossed Rs1.42 crore on a single day from all our properties, the highest ever. We expect Bodyguard to have easily grossed over Rs2 crore,” says Joshi, adding that the film might perform even better over the weekend.
Interestingly, critics don’t seem to have been too kind to the film, while the response among audiences has been mixed.
Manoj Desai of G7 multiplex in Bandra says that all shows of the film are booked right till Monday, which is unprecedented. “The film has obviously benefited from the long weekend, with Eid on Wednesday and Ganesh Chaturti on Thursday, but even then it’s quite a feat. Sadly, reactions have been mixed. So, it remains to be seen if the collections hold up after Monday,” says Desai.
Bodyguard, directed by Siddique, is a remake of the director’s 2010 Malayalam film of the same name. The film had then been remade in Tamil as Kaavalan. Both the earlier versions were hits.
The film co-stars Kareena Kapoor and has music by Himesh Reshammiya.