DUNKI scored well on its first day with collections of 28 crore nett driven by business in the South and West Bengal and good support in Delhi NCR and Mumbai city while other areas saw very average collections. For a Shah Rukh Khan film. they can even be called low.

The standout was West Bengal as it was around the 2.50 crore nett mark. Despite the film having a Punjabi flavour, which is not a strong point for West Bengal, it still managed huge collections though not as high as JAWAN or PATHAAN as they went over the 3 crore nett mark. The fact is though West Bengal was more than East Punjab for a film with a Punjabi flavour and that is the strength of Shah Rukh Khan in this circuit.

As mentioned before, these numbers may seem low but are good for the genre and in time its quite possible that people will see these numbers as excellent as its likely to become even harder for initial numbers for films without those huge commercial elements of big action or hit music. If both get combined, then the sky is the limit.

DUNKI has a good platform with its first day collections and despite SALAAR releasing on day two and a reduction of shows, the film is holding up well on the second day which goes well for its extended first weekend which will be over five days. Even after that, the holiday period remains which normally elevates the collections.

There will be a bigger fall in the South as SALAAR is huge there and DUNKI was doing best in South after West Bengal. But the more important markets like North India and Mumbai city are holding well on the second day. The film also scored big numbers in Overseas and there is the Christmas and New Year period to come which will ensure huge numbers in overseas though not as big as JAWAN and PATHAAN.

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DUNKI recorded the ninth highest opening day post pandemic but except for GADAR 2, all the films higher than DUNKI are big budget action or spectacle films. GADAR 2 was just a different animal altogether even without much of a budget.

The opening of DUNKI is illustrated better with what similar type of films have opened post the pandemic and for that, we have to go see the numbers of films like DRISHYAM 2 and '83 which are roughly 15 crore nett and 12 crore nett respectively. Even here DRISHYAM 2 got the benefit of a franchise film and '83 had the budget and hype but collections were just 12 crore nett.

This not to say that the DUNKI collections are great but just to show the difficult fight that films that don't have wide appeal face at the box office today. The last few years have seen multiplexes crop up a lot in the smaller centres which has enabled certain films to go to very high levels. But the flip side is the fact that certain type of films will not get much collections in these places and in the bigger centres, they lost a lost audience to streaming.

The numbers that have come for DUNKI are mainly due to the presence of Shah Rukh Khan but despite this, it has not hit the expectations from an SRK starrer. The simple reason for this is simply genre and when a Shah Rukh Khan film with Rajkumar Hirani cannot reach 30 crore nett, then its means a tough ride for opening numbers with big stars outside the action genre today who need the initials. The films probably have to be made with lesser stars where the initial is not a must.

The top opening day numbers post pandemic are as follows.

1. Jawan  - 63,87,00,000

2. Pathaan - 55,72,00,000

3. KGF 2 - Chapter (Hindi) - 52,39,00,000

4.  Animal - 51,47,00,000 

5. Tiger 3 - 40,88,00,000

6. Gadar 2 - 38,96,00,000

7. Adipurush (Hindi) - 31,73,00,000

8. Brahmastra - 30,37,00,000

10. Sooryavanshi - 26,11,00,000

11. RRR (Hindi) - 19,38,00,000

12. Drishyam - 14,92,00,000

13. Ram Setu - 14,71,00,000

14. Tu Jhooti Mai Makkaar - 13,98,00,000

15. Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan - 13,39,00,000

16. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 - 13,31,00,000

17. Bachchhan Paandey - 12,18,00,000

18. '83 - 11,96,00,000

19. Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani - 10,20,00,000

20. Bholaa - 10,12,00,000