Joginder Tuteja
It has been a super successful two week run for Simmba and so far the film has scored multiple records for all involved with the film.
First and foremost, the film has entered the Rs 200-crore club, hence becoming only the third release of 2018 to achieve this feat. Interestingly, the other two films actually belong to the Rs 300-crore club—Sanju earning Rs 342.53 crore and Padmaavat collecting Rs 302.15 crore.
After bringing in a phenomenal Rs 150.81 crore in its first week, Simmba collected Rs 61.62 crore more in the second week, hence resulting in overall collections standing at Rs 212.43 crore. The film had a very good second weekend and after that, the weekdays were stable all over again. As a result, the momentum continued quite well for the Rohit Shetty directed affair.
As for Rohit himself, the film's blockbuster success indeed means a lot since he is now the only Bollywood director to have as many as three double centuries to his name. Other two such blockbusters are Chennai Express (Rs 227 crore) and Golmaal Again (Rs 205.70 crore).
While Simmba has already gone past the lifetime number of Rohit's last release Golmaal Again, Chennai Express too would be history before the third weekend comes to a close for Simmba.
Meanwhile, Ranveer Singh has a lot to smile about as he has emerged as only the second actor after Salman Khan to score a triple century and a double century in the same calendar year. Back in 2015, Salman Khan had created history when he delivered an all-time blockbuster Bajrangi Bhaijaan (Rs 321 crore) and a solid hit Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (Rs 210 crore) in back to back fashion. Now Ranveer Singh has emulated the same too with further style as the blockbuster success of Padmaavat (Rs 302.15 crore) has been followed by a blockbuster Simmba.
As for Sara Ali Khan, she could already be grinning from ear to ear as she has scored a double century with just her second release, and that too within a month of making her debut with Kedarnath, which was again a success.
It was a period of uncertainty for Saif Ali Khan's daughter somewhere around the middle of 2018 when there were doubts around her eventual debut. Kedarnath was stuck in a battle between its producer (Prernaa Arora) and director (Abhishek Kapoor), and though Karan Johar and Rohit Shetty proceeded ahead to launch her, it seemed unlikely that the action entertainer with Ranveer Singh would indeed be her debut vehicle. Ultimately, Abhishek managed to sort out all the issues and Kedarnath turned out to be her launch pad and Simmba came next.
With one release seeing her in a performance oriented role and another featuring her as a conventional 'masala' film Bollywood heroine, Sara has given a good account of herself.
Moreover, Sonu Sood—who has traditionally been seen as a very reliable actor—stood his ground really well as the main villain in Simmba. His antagonist act was just the kind that required Ranveer Singh to deliver his best as the protagonist, and that ensured that at least the battle between hero and the villain came across as that of the equals.
Part of the industry for more than a decade and a half now and with more than 50 films behind him, Sonu did face disappointment with Paltan earlier in 2018 but then came back huge with Simmba.
It will be interesting to see where Simmba eventually lands. Currently, the film is progressing towards the Rs 250-crore mark, though that would eventually turn out to be the maximum total for it, give or take Rs 5 crore.
Nonetheless, the film which at best seemed like a Rs 150-crore affair has exceeded expectations in a huge way and is a major blockbuster already. Whatever comes in from here would be an added bonus and hence has to be seen as a cherry on the top of the cake.
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