Bodyguard Heads For Historic Record

Salman Khan’s latest release Bodyguard has created history at the box office. The film not only took an extraordinary opening but, according to most distributors across the country, it is also likely to cross the Rs 100-crore mark in its first week.

There were numerous factors that worked in favour of the film. To start with, like all previous Salman Khan films, this one too released on the actor’s lucky day, Eid, which fell on a Wednesday this year. This gives the film a nine-day week. Second, the other films that released along with Bodyguard are not big films. Thus, Bodyguard occupied the largest number of shows at almost all cinemas across the country and also enjoyed housefull shows at most cinema halls. Now due to the nine day-week, distributors predict that the film will cross the Rs 100-crore mark in the first week itself.

In Mumbai, the movie had a three-day collection of round about Rs 50 crore. According to Shyam Shroff of Shringar Films, “The movie will definitely earn more than Rs 100 crore in its first week, and it continues to go strong at almost all cinema halls. It is indeed a blockbuster.”

Another Mumbai distributor says, “Bodyguard earned approximately Rs 21.25 crore net in its first-day collections, leaving behind blockbusters such as Dabangg and 3 Idiots, which also had record first-day opening collections. So I think Bodyguard is likely to cross the Rs 100-crore mark in its first week.”

In Delhi too, distributors were ga-ga over the film. Says Sanjay Ghai of Mukta Arts, “Bodyguard is likely to break all records and will definitely do business of Rs 100 crore in the upcoming nine days.”

Punjab distributors too are optimistic but they predict that the film might take a little longer to cross the Rs 100-crore mark. Dharam Pal of Paramount Pictures says, “The movie will surpass Rs 100 crore but not in its first week.”

Kolkata distributor Debashish Dey of Aum Moviez adds, “The collections of Bodyguard have already crossed Rs 90 crore in the first three days. So it will obviously earn more than Rs 100 crore in week one, without a doubt.”

In Nizam and Rajasthan, distributors were singing the same tune. Ravi Macchar of Sahyog Films says, “In Nizam, Bodyguard is going very strong. The audience is really appreciating the film and it will do business worth Rs 100 crore in its first week.”

Adds Sanjay Marudhar of Marudhar Entertainment, “Since the movie has the benefit of a nine-day first week, which includes major holidays, it will be quite easy for it to earn a profit of Rs 100 crore in the first week.”

From Orissa, Jeetu Khandelwal of Movie Pioneers says, “It’s an all-time record for Salman Khan’s movies – Dabangg and Ready, and now Bodyguard’s collections are going to be far better.”