Box office collection: Terrific Holi weekend for Bollywood, courtesy 'The Kashmir Files' and 'Bachchan Pandey'

Anupam Kher 'The Kashmir Files', directed by Vivek Agnihotri.

Bollywood is set to have its biggest Holi weekend ever, with box-office collections likely to touch Rs 110 crore.

Traditionally, the Eid, Diwali and Christmas weekends have been the most important for the business of Bollywood. While Rs 100 crore releases are expected on these weekends, it is rarer for Holi to launch or sustain such blockbusters.

One of the key reasons for this is that on Holi, theatres are closed for the first half of the day in several states, owing to the celebrations. Yes, things improve in the evening - Holi is a holiday for most - but that only serves to make up for the lost morning shows.

This year, the continued blockbuster run of The Kashmir Files and a good opening day for Bachchan Pandey have set the cash registers ringing on Holi. Between the two films, earnings at the box office touched Rs 32.40 crore on Holi (Friday). While The Kashmir Files, which has now entered the second week, brought in Rs 19.15 crore, Bachchan Pandey stood at Rs 13.25 crore.

The Kashmir Files came close to breaking the record for the best second Friday ever in terms of ticket sales - it is still held by Baahubali: The Conclusion, which had collected Rs 19.75 crore.

The record for the biggest opening day collection is still held by Akshay Kumar starrer Sooryavanshi, which made Rs 26.29 crore on Day 1 when it released during the Diwali weekend of 2021.

There was expected growth on Saturday as well with Rs 36.80 crore coming in. On the power of block bookings and huge advance, The Kashmir Files stayed terrific with Rs 24.80 crore more in its kitty. The film is continuing to see an upwards trend ever since its release and from a start of Rs 3.55 crore, it is now multiplying its earnings with every passing day.

Collections for Bachchan Pandey dropped a bit on Saturday, to around Rs 12 crore. Had the film arrived sans any competition, it would have done better.

With over Rs 69 crore already coming from the two films in just two days, Bollywood is now looking at an overall weekend of over Rs 110 crore, which is simply phenomenal. Expected earning for Sunday stand at around Rs 40 crore. While The Kashmir Files has a real chance of going past the Rs 30 crore mark, Bachchan Pandey could go over Rs 10 crore again. Once that happens, Bollywood would be witnessing one of its best days ever at theatres, and here we are taking about the pre-pandemic mania.

It seems the pandemic scare is finally over, with box office back in business. Now one just hopes that the phenomenal times continue with the release of RRR, Attack, KGF Chapter 2, Jersey, Heropanti 2 and Runway 34 in weeks to come.