HINDI CINEMA OPENING DAY RECORDS
Dhurandhar: The Revenge has surpassed Jawan's opening-day record by a very narrow margin. This feat was achieved after its paid previews had already generated record-breaking revenue. While the Hindi version set this record by a significant margin, the earnings from its dubbed versions have been negligible. On an all-India level, it has edged past Jawan's record by a slim margin. However, the actual audience footfall is expected to remain lower than that of Jawan (Hindi), as ticket prices have been hiked significantly. On the all India level, Jawan footfall is marginally very high from Dhurandhar 2. Among actors who debuted after 2001, this marks only the second instance where a film has set an opening-day record. Prior to this, the 2019 film 'War' starring Tiger Shroff in the lead role had broken the opening-day record. However, that film also featured a senior superstar, Hrithik Roshan, the only superstar to have emerged after the year 2000 who has consistently delivered massive bumper and record openings over time. Ranveer Singh is the second star of this century to have broken an opening-day record with a film led solely by him. Nevertheless, sequel films now play a pivotal role in generating such massive openings; in the current landscape, it is extremely difficult for a standalone film to achieve such figures. In fact, even the opening-day performance of the first installment of 'Dhurandhar' was merely average.
Opening day records typically serve as an indicator of the public craze surrounding a film, a phenomenon consistent across every era. In the current decade, however, it is primarily the sequels to major event commercial films that possess the potential to truly shatter these records; for standalone films, generating such a level of public frenzy remains a formidable challenge.
The 1960s witnessed a similar phenomenon with large-canvas epics; for instance, Mughal-e-Azam was released across 100 screens with a record-breaking screen count by a wide margin at the time, marking an unprecedentedly massive simultaneous release. This was particularly remarkable given that, in that era, films were typically released gradually across different cities and states, often with intervals of several weeks or months between releases. When Mughal-e-Azam was released, it opened on such a massive number of screens that breaking its record became an incredibly difficult feat during the 1960s.
The 1970s can be split into two parts. The first half saw social and romantic films dominating the OPENING RECORDS, then the second half was dominated by big-budget masala multi-starrer films, particularly when it came to securing massive RECORD opening-day collections. At that time, RECORD opening was considered a bumper because films were released in different cities and states in different weeks on limited screens. Dharmendra gave 6 RECORD Openings in this decade. Rajesh Khanna gave 4 RECORD Openings in his historical phase of 1969-1972.
The 1980s marked a shift toward large-scale, simultaneous releases across multiple states; films began opening in a significantly higher number of cities concurrently, making it somewhat easier to break opening-day records even for mid-budget films compared to previous eras. However, till 1985, the era of masala multi-starrers continued and opening records in solo hero films remained quite rare. Films that commanded high distribution prices, even those of a lighter nature, were now able to secure wide releases. Amitabh Bachchan's different level of dominance was seen in this decade where he gave more than 15 bumper openings. Dharmendra also gave more than 10 bumper openings.
The 1990s saw the continued dominance of multi-starrers and action films. In this decade, the screen count was not at a very high level compared to previous decades. The screen count did not exceed much. VIDEO hit the industry because, at the time, Satellite TV was on boom in major parts of India. The cricket telecast and Doordarshan shows gave direct competition to the urgency of watching films on Opening Days. Shah Rukh Khan and Sunny Deol both have 7 bumper openings and 3 record openings in this decade. Although some other films also opened at 90–100% occupancy, the screen count of some films was much less and, due to clashes or screen sharing, they could not be considered bumper because their opening day nett was much lower compared to the top opening day of the time. Amitabh Bachchan also delivered 6 bumper openings in the 90s.
Then came the 2000s, an era characterized by the rise of VCRs, CDs, and DVDs which ushered in a wave of piracy that severely impacted the cinema industry. This marked a transitional phase where, instead of expanding, the overall screen count began to decline. Single-screen theaters were converted into today's malls. The industry saw the lowest number of "bumper openings" and blockbuster hits in this decade and most stars were struggling to give decent to good openings in this era. Shah Rukh Khan was the star who gave a maximum of 7 bumper openings in this decade, followed by Hrithik who gave 5 bumper openings.
The previous decade (2010–2019) was characterized as the "Era of big holidays," where major event films were strategically released on key public holidays. If such films enjoyed a solo release (without competing against other major films), the likelihood of setting new box-office records would become significantly higher. Salman Khan saw his career peak in this phase. He had a maximum of 7 bumper openings this decade. However, out of 7, 6 films were released on the Big festival holiday or National holiday, and 1 film, Tiger Zinda Hai, was a sequel film.
The "action-masala" genre has historically played a pivotal role in driving initial box-office openings post 1974. Films within the action-masala genre have been the primary drivers of bumper or record-breaking opening-day collections in the Hindi-speaking market. Apart from this specific genre, films of other genres currently stand very little chance of achieving such massive initial success. And now even star power and the action genre are not enough. Now it is a tough task to break OPENING DAY RECORDS without sequels, Historical or Mythology.
Overall, in the history of cinema to date, Amitabh Bachchan holds the record for breaking the opening-day record the most 12 times (if we include Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Hindustan Ki Kasam, and Thugs of Hindostan). Dharmendra has broken this record 11 times, and Shah Rukh Khan has done so 9 times thus far.
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