‘Pathaan’ Collects $115 Million In 19 Days

Shah Rukh Khan’s latest film, Pathaan, has scored more than $115 million in 19 days across the globe. While it has had a great run at the ticket windows, the Hindi film is not likely to surpass Aamir Khan’s Dangal which continues to hold the top position of all-time highest-grossing Bollywood film. ComscoreSCOR
ranked Pathaan as the tenth highest-grossing film across the globe for the weekend ending February 12. The film has earned $115.86 million worldwide, according to Comscore.

In the US markets alone, the film collected $998,314 over its third weekend, and has made $15.96 million in 19 days. In India, the Hindi version alone collected $57.04 million while the film grossed $71.09 million (including all dubbed-languages) in the Indian market.

Directed by Siddharth Anand, Pathaan also features Deepika Padukone and John Abraham in the lead roles. It marks Khan’s return to the silver screen after a gap of five years (his cameo in last year’s Brahmastra Part One: Shiva was too short). The film being a Khan-comeback movie, trade experts expected a huge opening. Most movie theatre chains also hiked their ticket prices ahead of the film’s release last month.

It was only later that YRF decided to slash the prices and bring them back to normal. For the first 12 days of the release, Pathaan, played with premium ticket prices in India and managed to score huge numbers despite the inflated prices. In an analytical report around ticket prices in India for event and non-event films, Ormax Media said, “Beyond certain boundary conditions, a film’s demand is not too sensitive to its ticket price. And that’s not entirely surprising, if you see Hindi cinema-going experience as a ‘uxury’, than an affordable, inclusive experience, like visiting your friendly neighborhood food joint.”

It added, “Of course, that can open up a whole new debate on what will it take to ‘massify’ the theatrical medium for the Hindi market. But that’s a social debate first, and then one where content, distribution and pricing come into play. And that would need (and deserve) a different research of its own.”

Pathaan is yet to cross the record set by Aamir Khan-starrer Dangal – the film based on real-life wrestlers from the Indian state of Haryana. The 2016 film grossed around $250 million worldwide. Given the current trend at the box office, Pathaan may not cross Dangal’s score at the ticket windows. Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, the film also featured Sanya Malhotra and Fatima Sana Shaikh in the lead roles of young girls trained by the wrestler father in a world that was completely against women taking up the profession. Another Indian film – SS Rajamouli’s Bahubali 2 The Conclusion also scored big at the ticket windows with a rough worldwide collection of $225 million.

Meanwhile, a small Hindi released across Indian theatres on Friday, February 10 – Shiv Shastri Balboa. Over the first weekend of its release, Anupam Kher-starrer Shiv Shastri Balboa made a collection that roughly stayed below $0.12 million. The film was made on an estimated budget of $1.2 million and released across mere hundred screens in India. It could not garner enough footfalls in the cinema halls, but Shiv Shastri Balboa is a sweet film about human emotions and focuses on the lonely life the elderly are often subjected to, thanks to the new generation choosing a fast-paced life. Both Kher and Gupta are brilliant in their roles, and Jugal Hansraj surprises in the role of his son.