Grand opening for JTHJ, SOS; may join Rs.100 crore club

New Delhi : “Jab Tak Hai Jaan” (JTHJ) and “Son Of Sandbar” (SOS) opened together on Diwali day and both have managed a grand opening. Trade pundit predicts that the movies’ box office collection will cross Rs.100 crore mark.

Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif starrer JTHJ was released on 2,500 screens and it has reportedly collected Rs.15.23 crore all over India. The Ajay Devgn, Sonakshi Sinha and Sanjay Dutt starrer SOS collected Rs.10.72 crore from 2,000 screens in the country.

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh says it is the “best Diwali for Bollywood”.

“In mass circuits, SOS is ahead and at multiplexes, JTHJ takes a lead. As per early trends, JTHJ is ahead of SOS in India. But, both are winners at the box-office. This is the biggest and best Diwali for Bollywood. The business of JTHJ and SOS will be the biggest ever,” Adarsh tweeted.

Rajesh Thadani, Multimedia Combines, Mumbai, told IANS that both films are doing very well.

” ‘Son Of Sardaar’ is doing well in single screens and ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ is doing well in multiplexes. Looking at the reports, I am sure SOS will pick up and do well in a couple of days,” he added.

There has been a lot of pre-release buzz around both JTHJ and SOS. Plus they have the advantage of festive occasion and extended weekend to mint more money.

Anant Verma, director and business head of DT Cinemas, told IANS: “Both the films have opened well with almost equal occupancy at our cinemas. We gave equal capacity and almost same number of shows to both. We are looking at a decent occupancy till Sunday. Friday morning shows will dip a little, but overall till Sunday all cinemas will do well. Families, youngsters and couples are coming to watch SOS and JTHJ.”

Produced by Aditya Chopra, late filmmakers Yash Chopra’s last directorial JTHJ has reportedly been made at a budget of Rs.50 crore, while director Ashwni Dhir’s SOS said to be costlier with Rs.80 crore expenses.

Sanjay Ghai of Mukta Arts predicts the films to cross Rs.100 crore collection mark.

“They have the potential to cross Rs.100 crore. Yesterday both the films opened at 90 percent occupancy, which was expected and today both JTHJ and SOS are going houseful,” Ghai told IANS.