Box Office: Awarapan 2 Is A Blockbuster, Batwara 1947 Struggles

Emraan Hashmi’s Awarapan 2 has defied all expectations, emerging as a surprise blockbuster with a staggering opening weekend collection.
Sunny Deol’s highly anticipated Batwara 1947 has significantly underperformed at the box office.

IMAGE: Emraan Hashmi in Awarapan 2.

 

The Bollywood box office never ceases to surprise.

The Independence Day weekend saw two releases, Awarapan 2 and Batwara 1947, the latter being the bigger one.

But the Sunny Deol starrer did not become the blockbuster as expected. Instead, the Emraan Hashmi film has not just taken a huge lead, it has also emerged as a blockbuster after the first weekend itself.

Awarapan 2‘s Unexpected Triumph

The signs were there a week before release that Awarapan 2 would take a bigger opening. Trade circles expected an opening of Rs 12 crore to Rs 15 crore (Rs 120 million to Rs 150 million) but by the time advance booking started, a Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) opening seemed possible.

The first day collections went even higher at Rs 23.40 crore (Rs 234 million). This is the biggest opening ever for a controlled budget film in the last 20 to 30 years.

The second day went even higher, as Rs 34.09 crore (Rs 340.9 million) came in.

This ensured that within the first two days itself, the entire budget of the Emraan Hashmi starrer was recovered, with Sunday collections being an added bonus.

The opening weekend now stands at Rs 83 crore* (Rs 830 million), which is a blockbuster start for the film. It will enter the Rs 100 Crore (Rs 1 billion) Club by Tuesday.

There’s an entire week before Toxic arrives on August 26, so Awarapan 2 will comfortably go past the Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) milestone.

Batwara 1947‘s Box Office Struggle

IMAGE: Sunny Deol in Batwara 1947.

Batwara 1947 was expected to be a big release, since Sunny Deol and Rajkumar Santoshi are coming together after Ghayal, Ghatak and Damini, and Aamir Khan is the film’s producer. But the buzz was negligible for the film.

Since it is a big movie, one expected an opening in the range of Rs 7 crore to Rs 8 crore (Rs 70 million to Rs 80 million) but it was much lower at Rs 5.25 crore (Rs 52.5 million).

Saturday was Independence Day, so a jump for the patriotic film was phenomenal and Rs 12.65 crore (Rs 126.5 million) came in. This should have been the first day number for the film.

Collections dropped on Sunday with just over Rs 7 crore* (Rs 70 million) coming in, which means weekdays would be a struggle for Batwara 1947, which currently stands at Rs 25 crore* (Rs 250 million). For context, this is almost the same number as the first day of Awarapan 2, which pretty much tells the tale.

*Estimates.
Note: All collections as per various box office sources.

Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff