Box Office Report: Dilwale Opens Strong, Slow Start for Bajirao Mastani

By Urvi Parikh

Updated on Dec 19, 2015 | 03:36 AM IST | 3.4M

With Dilwale and Bajirao Mastani hitting the screens today and creating a much hoopla about the clash at the box office, one would naturally be interested to know the initial trend of the film's box office opening.

Reportedly, Dilwale has had a strong opening of around 65% while Bajirao Mastani was slower with a 30% start. Interestingly, the clash between the two biggies is actually happening only in multiplexes of Mumbai and Pune while the rest of the country saw a healthy advantage for Dilwale.

The Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon starrer had a very big lead in East Punjab, Nizam / Andhra, Mysore and East India while most other areas outside Mumbai and Pune had a good lead. The gap in above circuits was double and even more at some centres.

In Mumbai and Pune both films have opened to similar occupancy. However, it is the key area of Gujarat which is witnessing a lead with Dilwale and it is important for Bajirao Mastani to close the gap by evening to stay in the competition.

Meanwhile, despite the strong opening, the screenings of Dilwale are 65% of Prem Ratan Dhan Payo with around 12000 shows per day compared to 18000 plus of Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. If the film can get a 20 crore nett plus number up on day one, fair value for that would be close to 30 crore nett.