Grand opening for 'HNY', collects Rs. 44.97 crore on first day

New Delhi, Oct 25 (IANS) Shah Rukh Khan starrer "Happy New Year" has hit the right note with audiences as the film earned a record Rs 44.97 crore on the opening day of its release.

Produced by Shah Rukh's Red Chillies Entertainment Pvt Ltd and directed by Farah Khan, "Happy New Year" is a heist drama. The film that released Friday also features Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Boman Irani, Jackie Shroff, Sonu Sood, and Vivaan Shah.

According to a statement released by the production house, the film has earned a "record breaking opening at the box-office in India"

"Red Chillies Entertainments (RCE) Pvt Ltd announced today (Saturday) that their latest release, Happy New Year had a record breaking opening in the Box Office in India. It has collected Rs. 44.97 Crs on the opening day. With 42.62 Crs in Hindi, 1.43 Crs in Telugu dub and 0.92 Crs in Tamil dub, HNY has become the highest opening day ranker in Indian films so far," said a statement.

Commenting on the performance of the film's box office performance, Venky Mysore, CEO of RCE said, "We are delighted that the audience across India has responded brilliantly and shown their support for a film that has been produced with a lot of passion and love."

Added Gaurav Verma, chief revenue officer at RCE: "The partnership with YRF in developing our distribution strategy has been excellent and has contributed to the record breaking opening."