MUMBAI: From even before the release of Bollywood films ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ and ‘Son Of Sardaar’, the makers of the film were at a war footing.
Both sets of filmmakers Yash Raj Films (YRF) for ‘JTHJ’ and Ajay Devgn Ffilms (ADF) for ‘SOS’ had locked in the auspicious day of Laxmi puja, 13th November, to release nationwide.
Both films feature superstars: Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma in the former; Ajay Devgn, Sonakshi Sinha, Juhi Chawla and Sanjay Dutt in the latter.
ADF is appalled that YRF had allegedly grabbed single screen space, YRF countered that everything was planned a year ago!
Reasonably, ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ which had a first crack of 500-700 more screens, took a lead in the box office race.
The figures: ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’s first day was a solid Rs 152.5 milion (Rs 15.25 crore) net and ‘Son Of Sardaar’ clocked in a good Rs 107.5 million (Rs 10.75 crore) net approximately.
By Day 6, ‘JTHJ’ led with a Rs 800 million (Rs 80 crore) net, while ‘Son Of Sardaar’ had garnered Rs 650 million (Rs 65 crore) net.
On Monday, Day 7, despite the difference in the number of screens showcasing both films, the collections garnered were almost on par. Late Yash Chopra’s ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ raked in approximately Rs 54 million (Rs 5.4 crore) net and ‘Son Of Sardaar’ collected Rs 55 million (Rs 5.5. crore) net.
Of course, ‘JTHJ’ with its head start still has a higher total. Inclusive of Day 8, Tuesday the film now stands in the range of Rs 900 million (Rs 90 crore) net, which is very close to the Rs 100 crore mark at the Indian box office. On the other hand, ‘SOS’ 8 Day total is an approximate Rs 755 million (Rs 75.5 crore) net.
Meanwhile, on the worldwide level ‘JTHJ’ has emerged as the fourth highest grosser after ‘Ek Tha Tiger’, ‘Bodyguard’ and SRK’s own ‘Ra.One’.
This puts ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ ahead of even Aamir Khan’s ‘3 Idiots’, Karan Johar’s ‘Agneepath’ and Salman Khan starrer ‘Dabangg’ on the global front.
