Rohit Shetty’s ‘Sooryavanshi‘ finally released on Friday after hitting multiple roadblocks over the last 18 months, but it seems to have been worth the wait.

An addition to the director’s cop universe after ‘Singham’ and ‘Simba’, ‘Sooryavanshi’ is a classic Rohit Shetty entertainer with action, romance, humour, drama and thrills, all packaged into a delectable treat. And early reports about the Akshay Kumar-starrer’s performance across territories have been encouraging enough to make Bollywood continue its Diwali celebrations.

Talking about the opening-day response to the film, senior trade analyst and film critic Taran Adarsh said, “It is an amazing start, more so because if you look at the 50 per cent occupancy still in force in Maharashtra, which is the largest market for the movie business, contributing 35-40 per cent of the film industry’s earnings. I am confident that the film will cross the Rs 30-crore, which is fantabulous.”

Rightly so, the film is reportedly heading towards becoming the biggest opening ever for Akshay Kumar. The actor’s 2019 film ‘Mission Mangal’ raked in an estimated total of Rs 28 crore nett.

According to early estimates, the film has reportedly crossed the Rs 26 crore nett mark. The numbers are said to be in line with the earning of the comedy hit ‘Golmaal Again’, but collections in Mumbai are likely to lag owing to the Maharashtra circuit only allowing 50% occupancy.

According to reports on boxofficeindia.com, ‘Sooryavanshi’ has revived the industry and brought back 80% of the business in comparison to pre-pandemic times. It’ll only be a matter of time before the pre and post pandemic box office numbers are equalled.

Fellow analyst Komal Nahta also shared positive feedback about the box office numbers recorded thus far. He said, “The opening of ‘Sooryavanshi’ should be considered extraordinary. The first day collections should easily cross Rs 25 crore, which is historic in times such as these. In Maharashtra, Goa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana, the theatres are running at 50 per cent occupancy.”

He also pointed out that there’s still a sense of fear among people about spending nearly three hours in a closed environment, “so the current business of Rs 25-30 crore translates into Rs 40 crore of the pre-Covid normal times.”

Nahta concluded his analysis by saying that it is “a moment of happiness” for the entire film industry. He said, “There’s palpable excitement within the industry about bouncing back and these figures speak for themselves. They prove all those people wrong who said that cinemas don’t stand a chance against OTT platforms.”

‘Sooryavanshi’ has managed to achieve this feat despite sharing box office business with the big-ticket Hollywood release, ‘Eternals‘. Until early Friday, both films were tied neck-to-neck in advance booking ticket sales. However, as predicted, the Bollywood film also starring Katrina Kaif, Ranveer Singh and Ajay Devgn, picked up its pace thanks to a higher screen allotment.