Sooryavanshi, starring Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, has brought a ray of hope with a decent opening at the box office. The Rohit Shetty film opened in theatres with estimated collections of ₹26 crore on Friday. 

Sooryavanshi opened on Friday to positive reviews. It clashed with Hollywood film, Eternals which was given a thumbs down by the critics across the globe.  

“The early territory numbers (of Sooryavanshi) are coming in very similar to Golmaal Again but it’s likely that Mumbai will lag due to Maharashtra being at 50% occupancy,” a Boxofficeindia.com reported stated. 

“The collections of Eternals are also solid and could finish near the 8 crore nett, making it the best result for Hollywood post the pandemic. Together, both films will be looking at a 33-35 crore nett total for the big Diwali holiday which is similar to what Housefull 4 did in 2019 on this very day,” the report said.

Sooryavanshi released globally in 1300 screens in 66 countries, while in India, the exact numbers are yet to be shared by trade pundits.

A day after Diwali, many families were seen lining up outside cinema halls to watch the long-delayed cop drama. Sooryavanshi expands the cop universe created by Rohit Shetty with Singham and Simmba, and has been awaiting theatrical release since March 2020.

Reliance Entertainment Group CEO Shibasish Sarkar said they are thrilled with the response to the film. “After a long time, we see housefull board outside single screens and multiplexes. A day after Diwali is always a big day from film point of view. Cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Gujarat, Pune, UP, Lucknow, Varanasi among others are showing unprecedented response. It’s like the good old days hopefully, as audiences are back to theatres.”

Also read: Amitabh Bachchan impressed with Akshay Kumar’s chopper scene from Sooryavanshi but warns him, ‘Don’t do it again’

Several states, including Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, resumed operations in cinema halls from July-August onwards. However, theatres in Maharashtra, a key market for the Hindi film industry, reopened from October 22 with a 50% capacity.

(With PTI inputs)