Highest Opening Bollywood Film ‘Pathaan’ Grosses $38.3 Million Worldwide

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan is back with a new film after a gap of five years and the early collections prove that he has not lost any of his fandom – Pathaan made a record worldwide opening of $13 million on January 25 and by the third day, the film grossed $38.3 million worldwide. It also made a gross collection of $26.4 million in India.

Directed by Siddharth Anand and featuring Deepika Padukone and John Abraham alongside Khan, the film made a nett collection of $6.9 million in India on the first day. Trade analysts had estimated that Pathaan will make an opening collection of Rs $5 million in India alone. Pathaan has clearly surpassed all expectations to score a humongous in the Indian markets.

After the huge opening, Pathaan went on to make yet another record collection on the second day which was a holiday (Republic Day) in India. By the end of day two, the film grossed $26.8 million worldwide. It grossed $14.7 million in India alone by second day, and is the highest single-day collection for a film in India. The film also features Dimple Kapadia and Ashutosh Rana in important roles.

Trade experts believe that Khan’s stardom, combined with a marketing strategy of low interaction worked well for Pathaan. Film trade analyst Atul Mohan says, “There were boycott calls, but it was not clear why should one boycott the film. I think the traction the film got was also an aggressive reaction to the boycott call – this is Khan’s film coming out after many years.” He adds that Khan’s stardom and the comeback also played major parts.

Producer and film business analyst Girish Johar adds, “The silence of the entire team, the boycott calls also took the publicity to another level. These are all marketing ploys, the film will only get such traction after first day if the content matches the hype.”

Film exhibitor Akshaye Rathi does not agree that the boycott calls may have impacted earnings of Pathaan at all. “Neither the politics nor the boycott or ban calls have impacted the collections. Even in the past we had had boycott calls against films such as Padmaavat and Chhapak – one went on to become a huge hit and the other did not work. Ultimately, it is the content that matters. In fact as entertainment industry, we should steer clear of politics because then we get involved in counter-politics.”

CEO of Pathaan’s production house Yash Raj Films, Akshaye Widhani expresses happiness and says in a press statement, “It is incredible that Pathaan has registered the biggest all-time opening in India and overseas, considering the collections of the film in the first three days of release which is dubbed as the opening weekend for any film. Pathaan has been blessed by Indians across the globe and what is happening with this film is unprecedented and historic.”

The highest grossing films in India in the year 2022 did not come out of Bollywood. Films such as Pushpa The Rise and KGF 2, had huge business at the ticket windows across India. They were also a huge craze in the Hindi belt of the country. These films were about a solo hero – larger-than-life and one that mostly sticks to the orthodox traditions. Pathaan is perhaps the right film that can represent Hindi films when film scholars talk about movies such as KGF and Pushpa The Rise (the films that ruled box office in India, especially the Hindi belt last year). It has a similar make-belief premise, complete defiance of most logical conclusions and rules of physics as well as reality. But then, if you are watching an “entertainer”, it is irrelevant and unfair to demand those in the film.

Is Pathaan made on similar lines as KGF 2 and Pushpa The Rise? “The only similarity is that they are all made as unabashed entertainers, with the sole purpose of engaging and entertaining the lowest common denominator of the social strata. (The attempt is to do so) without financially or socially alienating any part of the audience,” Rathi says.