Bharat, on its first day, exceeded all the expectations & gives a blockbuster beginning

Bharat is released on the day of Eid & has taken a Blockbuster start at the Box Office. It was predicted in this column that 30 crores was the bare minimum opening that the Salman Khan starrer was expected to take, 35 crores was on the cards and with some push, it could well extend towards the 40 crores mark. For all practical purposes though, a number around 35 crores was being expected.

However, a magic happened. The film not just crossed the 30 crores, 35 crores and 40 crores milestone, it continued to earn much more with every passing show. As a result, the film recorded a huge 42.30 crores on its first day itself. This is simply tremendous since even those with great expectations did not quite see a number on these lines coming. Still, this actually turned out to be the case and as a result, the distributors and exhibitors had a lot to cheer about on the opening day at least.

The Salman Khan and Ali Abbas Zafar combination has delivered all over again. While their Eid release Sultan had taken a start of 36.54 crores, Tiger Zinda Hai had scored 34.10 crores on its first day. Now Bharat has further broken the barrier and set a new benchmark for all involved.

The start has been made by Bharat and now it is all about consolidating from here on. The film carries a huge advantage of a five day weekend and if collections continue with similar momentum while accounting for the fact that Wednesday was Eid and Thursday and Friday would be regular days, a major total is set to be accumulated before weekdays begin.