Box Office - Dunki all set for 200 Crore Club entry, Salaar (Hindi) enters 100 Crore Club

Salaar, which released in Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada, has crossed Rs 300 crore at the Indian box office across all languages. Collections for the Hindi version alone were Rs 101 crore at the end of eight days. (Screen grab/YouTube/Hombale Films)

Christmas releases Dunki and Salaar (Hindi) were expected to be blockbusters. The release date was perfect, with a long weekend welcoming the two films and then another long weekend in Week 2. The whole festival period lasts a good 11 days with only four working days in between, hence setting up the stage for both movies to do huge business.

However, the almost simultaneous release (Dunki released a day earlier on December 21) split the prospects of the Shah Rukh Khan and Prabhas starrers. Additionally, the content of the two films doesn't seem to have caught the fancy of audiences, which has further thinned the crowds. That said, the good part is that both films have not given up at all and after an opening which was good, though not excellent as per grade expectations, they have stabilised.

Let’s talk about Dunki first. The Rajkumar Hirani film has now reached Rs 170 crore at the box office after 9 days. Released on a Thursday, and hence taking a bit of an early advantage, the film stayed around the Rs 10 crore mark during the weekdays and now is set up for another extended weekend which runs till Monday. It’s also New Year season, so that should further keep the footfalls going.

If the momentum is huge today and tomorrow then 200 Crore Club entry may happen soon enough, otherwise it’s a given that this will happen on Monday. Post that a lifetime score of Rs 240-250 crore is there for the taking due to a completely open season ahead of it till Fighter arrives around the Republic Day period.

As for Salaar (Hindi), after facing some initial jolts around getting the right volume and position of the screens, has managed to settle down well now. The Prashanth Neel film started off in a better-than-expected way and then after the weekend job was done, it has managed to stabilize well during the weekdays. Again, the numbers have been in the Rs 8-10 crore range and for a film which is basically aiming for the gentry, the collections are just fine.

After being in theatres for 8 days, the film has now entered the 100 Crore Club. Standing at Rs 101 crore, the film now has a job in hand to pick further momentum in the second weekend as that would be key to it eventually going past the Rs 150 crore mark.

The film will easily cross the lifetime earnings of Adipurush (Hindi) - Rs 135.04 crore - another Prabhas starrer. That was the total of the Hindi version of his Saaho and the superstar would definitely be aiming to go one up over that.

Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources