'Salaar' First Day Collection At Box Office: Solid Opening In South, Decent Start In Hindi

Prabhas and Shruti Haasan's 'Salaar' is off to a flying start at the worldwide box office. The movie has opened to fairly positive reviews.

Going by the trends, 'Salaar' has got an earth-shattering opening in South India while getting a slow start in North India and Hindi-speaking regions.

The movie is predicted to collect a double-digit figure in Hindi belt on day one as the movie locks horns with Shah Rukh Khan's 'Salaar'. Speaking to Bollywood Hungama, trade analyst Atul Mohan said that good word-of-mouth will impact the business of Prabhas' film.

He said, "If Dunki has a good positive report, toh fir chalte ghode ko koi chabuk nahin maarta. If it works, then theatres will be happy with (giving more shows to Dunki)." He claimed, "The biggest drawback in Salaar is Prabhas. His films generate a lot of hype but after the release, viewers are mostly disappointed. Even if you were an exhibitor, you'd give preference to Dunki since Shah Rukh's last two films were all-time grossers."

Leading trade analyst Girish Johar agrees that the positive reviews play the trick. He said, "The word of mouth will spread fast. So Dunki's shows will be reduced if reports are not encouraging. Or it'll be vice versa if people love the film. At the end of the day, the cinema hall wants to maximize their profit. Whichever film has more demand, it'll get more shows."

Trade tracker Komal Nahta mentioned that the advance booking of 'Salaar' is quite promising down South. However, in North India, despite being a non-action film, 'Dunki' holds the edge. According to him, in terms of the opening, 'Dunki' is expected to outperform Salaar in non-Southern states. Nahta expressed the belief that the opening of 'Salaar' will undoubtedly reach double digits, presenting a good and respectable figure, estimated to be in the range of Rs 20-25 crores.

Going by the early predictions, Shah Rukh Khan's film has earned just Rs 28 crore (nett) on day one.

As far as the first day box office collection of 'Salaar' is concerned, the multilingual movie is predicted to earn over Rs 50 crore from two Telugu-speaking states Andhra and Telangana. The other southern states are expected to contribute over Rs 20 crore. If the film earns over Rs 10 crore from the rest of the country, the movie will easily cross Rs 80-crore mark at the domestic box office.

The movie is predicted to earn over Rs 20 crore from overseas centres, easily taking its first day collection to Rs 100 crore.