Akshay Kumar‘s Bachchan Pandey, which released on Friday, had a good opening and collected around Rs 12.50 crore (nett) on day one. The film saw a good footfall even with The Kashmir Files creating a massive stir at the box office and crossing the 100-crore mark in its second week.
According to a report in BOI, Bachchan Pandey collected Rs 12.25-12.50 crore (nett) on day one and could possibly have touched 13 crores if single screens in Bihar and CP Berar regions were not shut due to Holi. The report further states that screens in Bihar, where the Friday collection was only Rs 15-20 lakh, will be also shut on Saturday and will open only on Sunday. However, the film collected Rs 2-2.25 crore (nett) in the Gujarat area and in the Mumbai circuit too it made a very good Rs 4.75 crore (nett).
While it is expected to pull in more crowds during the weekend, Bachchan Pandey will face huge competition from The Kashmir Files, which reportedly has a huge advance booking for the Holi weekend. The Vivek Agnihotri directorial has managed to earn the second-highest numbers for opening day of week two in India after Baahubali – The Conclusion, which earned Rs 20 crore (nett) on its second Friday.
With The Kashmir Files‘ collection of Rs 19-19.50 crore (nett) on Friday, the film’s total has climbed up to Rs 115 crore (nett). It is expected to still keep going strong despite the release of Kumar’s Bachchan Pandey.
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Directed by Farhad Samji, Bachchan Pandey stars Kumar and Kriti Sanon in the lead, along with Pankaj Tripathi and Jacqueline Fernandez in supporting roles. It is a remake of the 2014 Tamil film Jigarthanda. The story revolves around a budding director trying to research a ruthless gangster in order to make a film on the underworld.
The Kashmir Files, on the other hand, features an ensemble cast comprising of actors Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Darshan Kumaar, Pallavi Joshi, Prakash Belawadi, Puneet Issar, and Atul Srivastava, among others. It is based on the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandit community out of the Kashmir valley in the 1990s.