The Raees and Kaabil clash has turned out to be a very one sided affair on day one with Raees crushing the competition and taking a huge lead. Its unlikely that two major films released on the same day have seen such a big difference in collections on day one. The early estimates are around 21 crore nett for Raees and 7.50 crore nett for Kaabil. The star power of Shahrukh Khan has gunned down the star power of Hrithik Roshan. The latter also came out second best with the clash on Independence Day week as Mohenjo Daro grossed 8.80 crore nett on day one and the competition which was Akshay Kumar's Rustom grossed 13.92 crore nett. Still there the gap was reasonable but here its looking at a difference of over 13 crore nett just on one day.
Kaabil has performed below the mark all over with some circuits being practically being wiped out due to Raees. The film was never that hot but still a Mohenjo Daro type of number should have come at least as Hrithik Roshan is still one of the top stars. The film needs to pick up big time and that is just to avoid becoming a disaster as it needs double digit numbers for all the days remaining in its extended weekend just to stay afloat.
Raees has scored very well all over especially in Muslim dominated areas,the only area which probably should have done better is Delhi city and East Punjab. The film is not really for these markets and it is because of Shahrukh Khan that the film has at least good collections in Delhi and East Punjab even though they are not as good as the rest of the country. The scored very well in Gujarat, West Bengal and South India. There is a big holiday tomorrow for Republic Day and it should improve further but it will be the Friday-Sunday business that will determine how big the five day weekend turns out to be.
Anupamaa
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