Ajay Devgn was worried about the Shahrukh Khan-Katrina Kaif-Anushka Sharma starrer stealing the limelight from his movie. Guess he shouldn’t have worried after all! Jab Tak Hai Jaan and Son Of Sardaar opened together on Diwali day and both have managed a grand opening. Trade pundit predicts that the movies’ box office collection will cross Rs 100 crore mark.
Shahrukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif starrer JTHJ was released on 2,500 screens and it has reportedly collected Rs 15.23 crore all over India. The Ajay Devgn, Sonakshi Sinha and Sanjay Dutt starrer SOS collected Rs 10.72 crore from 2,000 screens in the country.
Trade analyst Taran Adarsh says it is the “best Diwali for Bollywood”. “In mass circuits, SOS is ahead and at multiplexes, JTHJ takes a lead. As per early trends, JTHJ is ahead of SOS in India. But, both are winners at the box-office. This is the biggest and best Diwali for Bollywood. The business of JTHJ and SOS will be the biggest ever,” he tweeted.
Rajesh Thadani, Multimedia Combines, Mumbai said, “Son Of Sardaar is doing well in single screens and Jab Tak Hai Jaan is doing well in multiplexes. Looking at the reports, I am sure SOS will pick up and do well in a couple of days,” he added.
There has been a lot of pre-release buzz around both JTHJ and SOS. Plus they have the advantage of festive occasion and extended weekend to mint more money. Anant Verma, director and business head of DT Cinemas said: “Both the films have opened well with almost equal occupancy at our cinemas.
We gave equal capacity and almost same number of shows to both. We are looking at a decent occupancy till Sunday. Friday morning shows will dip a little, but overall till Sunday all cinemas will do well. Families, youngsters and couples are coming to watch SOS and JTHJ.”
Produced by Aditya Chopra, late filmmakers Yash Chopra’s last directorial JTHJ has reportedly been made at a budget of Rs 50 crore, while director Ashwni Dhir’s SOS said to be costlier with Rs 80 crore expenses.
Sanjay Ghai of Mukta Arts predicts the films to cross Rs 100 crore collection mark. “They have the potential to cross Rs 100 crore. Yesterday both the films opened at 90 percent occupancy, which was expected and today both JTHJ and SOS are going houseful,” Ghai said.