Box office: After Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan, Salman Khan’s Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan expected to bring cheer

Salman Khan in 'Kisi ka Bhai Kisi ki Jaan', which is releasing in theatres on Eid 2023. (Screen grab via YouTube/Salman Khan Films)

Shah Rukh Khan opened the account for 2023 by scoring an all-time mega blockbuster with Pathaan which entered the 500 Crore Club. The Sidharth Anand directed film is also the first Bollywood movie to achieve this feat. Pathaan, which released in theatres on January 25, 2023, stoked hopes of a flurry of hits from Bollywood - a series of 100 Crore Club films were at least expected to arrive in quick succession.

Well, the only film that managed this was Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar and it has done rather good business by netting Rs 145 crore already after five weeks. Currently in its sixth week, the film is still attracting youth at major multiplexes of the urban centres. The film may end up making Rs 148-150 crore in theatres - and that’s a good score in any market, be it pre-pandemic or post-pandemic.

There were similar expectations from Bholaa - industry insiders thought that it would get into Rs 125-150 crore zone at least. Ajay Devgn’s last big directorial outing Shivaay netted Rs 100 crore. However, the Ramzan period and IPL season coming together meant that the footfalls for Bholaa at the mass centres were impacted, as a result of which the film won’t be able to score a century. However, it will likely come close to the Rs 90 crore mark. Currently standing at Rs 80 crore, it will play on uninterrupted for one more week and then manage to get some post-Eid audience for itself as well.

This brings us to the all-important Eid release Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan which is arriving next. The return of Salman Khan as a main lead in a theatrical release more than three years after Dabangg (2019) means the audiences are hungry to catch him on the big screen. Again, one can’t expect an Eid record to be broken here. In fact Salman Khan has scored many big ones on non-Eid releases as well. A Rs 20 crore-plus start is expected to get the film going at a time when no other big releases are coming up for many more weeks.

All eyes are on Salman Khan to deliver a big grosser here and the first major target would be to score a 200 Crore Club hit. As long as that happens, there would indeed be something to rejoice for the industry.

*Estimates. Final numbers awaited

Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources