As we entered the third week of March, the Indian box office turned into a high-stakes battleground. Two of the most anticipated films from Bollywood and Tollywood, Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge and Ustaad Bhagat Singh, are currently locked in a box office clash.
Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge
Ranveer Singh's spy thriller sequel had already begun shattering records even before its official theatrical release. The film collected a staggering Rs 43 crore ahead of release through paid previews. These pre-release screenings were held across 11,294 shows with an average occupancy of 64.8%. According to Sacnilk, the film then opened with a historic Rs 102.55 crore, the highest opening-day collection for a Bollywood film. With about 21,633 shows on Day 1, the average occupancy was reported at 67.8%.
By Day 2, Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge saw a dip in collections, but the numbers remained strong, with Day 2 collections at Rs 80.72 crore. On Friday, the film ran across 20,125 shows with an average occupancy of 62.6%.
Sacnilk's occupancy report for Day 2 showed NCR with the highest number of screenings at 2,539 shows, followed by Mumbai with 2,113 shows and Ahmedabad with 1,370 shows.
The highest collections came from the Hindi version, which alone contributed Rs 78.94 crore on Day 2. With Day 3 collections still coming in, Sacnilk reported a total net collection of Rs 226.27 crore, pushing the total gross collection to Rs 269.39 crore.
Additionally, Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge has collected Rs 64 crore from overseas markets, taking its worldwide collection to Rs 333.39 crore.
Ustaad Bhagat Singh
While Bollywood is focused on Dhurandhar 2, Telugu cinema is celebrating Pawan Kalyan's return to the big screen. The film opened with an impressive Rs 34.75 crore. However, Ustaad Bhagat Singh did not have any paid previews ahead of its theatrical release.
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The first Friday did not go well for the film, as it saw a significant drop in collections from Day 1. According to Sacnilk, Day 2 collections fell 73.4% to Rs 9.25 crore. The film ran across 3,447 shows, with average occupancy dropping to 36.0%.
The occupancy report showed Hyderabad leading with 1,028 shows, followed by Bengaluru with 501 shows and Vizag (Visakhapatnam) with 327 shows.
As Day 3 began, the total gross collection as of Day 2 stood at Rs 51.92 crore, while the total net collection was estimated at Rs 44.00 crore.
Additionally, Ustaad Bhagat Singh collected Rs 7.00 crore from overseas markets, taking its total gross collection to around Rs 59 crore worldwide.
With the opening weekend now underway for both films, it remains to be seen whether either will emerge as a major hurdle for the other at the box office.
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