Things are slowly looking up in Bollywood. Of this week's releases - Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 took a memorable start, crossing Rs 14 crore on Day 1. Dhaakad, with Kangana Ranaut and Arjun Rampal in the lead, however, brought in a disappointing Rs 65 lakh on its first day in theatres.
For some time in the middle, south films had been keeping audiences engaged with Hindi versions, first of RRR and then KGF: Chapter 2. True, The Kashmir Files became an all-time blockbuster, and Gangubai Kathiawadi (which opened at Rs 10.50 crore and sustained well) helped. But this period also saw half-a-dozen other big Bollywood releases fail at theatres.
Kartik Aaryan starrer Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 seems to have bucked this trend. In addition to a good opening, the film has also generated good word of mouth and as such paved the way for a good run.
The film has taken the best start for a Bollywood film in 2022 so far. It has gone past the first day collections of Bachchan Pandey (which was caught in The Kashmir Files maze) and even Gangubai Kathiawadi (which was the first film post pandemic to see a full-fledged release without any occupancy restrictions).
With Rs 14.11 crore in its kitty already, the film has defied expectations when the best-case scenario looked like a double-digit opening on the lower side. However, instead of finding itself in Rs 11-12 crore range, it has gone much better than that.
Compare this with the other Hindi releases amongst the Top-10 of the year:
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 - Rs 14.11 crore
Bachchan Pandey - Rs 13.25 crore
Gangubai Kathiawadi - Rs 10.50 crore
Heropanti 2 - Rs 7 crore
Radhe Shyam [Hindi] - Rs 4.40 crore
The Kashmir Files - Rs 3.55 crore
Attack - Part 1 - Rs 3.38 crore
Jayeshbhai Jordaar - Rs 3.25 crore
Runway - Rs 3 crore
Jersey - Rs 2.93 crore
This is also the best Day 1 collection for a film with Kartik Aaryan in the lead. Before Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Love Aaj Kal, a Valentine's Day release, represented the biggest Day 1 take among all his films - it had managed Rs 12.40 crore. That film had released just before the pandemic.
Now post the pandemic, when things are still difficult, Kartik Aaryan has topped that by almost Rs 2 crore to bring in Rs 14.11 crore on Friday with Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2. There has been a constant increase in footfalls that has been evidenced for his films and this can well be seen by the first day numbers of Kartik's last five releases prior to Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2:
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 - Rs 14.11 crore
Love Aaj Kal - Rs 12.40 crore
Pati Patni aur Woh - Rs 9.10 crore
Luka Chuppi - Rs 8.01 crore
Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 - Rs 6.80 crore
Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety - Rs 6.42 crore
For Bollywood, this has turned out to be a much awaited revival because otherwise it was reeling with back to back super disasters. With average opening day of so many biggies in merely Rs 3-4 crore range, one had started wondering if there would be any film that will actually end up doing the kind of business that is expected from a true Bollywood film. Well, this has now finally happened with Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, and one now waits to see what kind of momentum it gathers over the weekend and how much higher it goes once the week is through.
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