'Tubelight' earns Rs 21.15 crore on day one

Mumbai : Salman Khan’s “Tubelight” failed to break the opening records of superstar’s previous Eid outings “Bajrangi Bhaijaan” and “Sultan”, as it has managed to mint only Rs 21.15 crore on day one. According to the producers, “the movie has clocked Rs 21.15 crore at the box office on the first day of its release.” 

The 51-year-old actor’s 2016 Eid outing “Sultan” opened at Rs 36.54 crore, while “Bajrangi Bhaijaan” earned Rs 36.50 crore on the first day. Film distributors are saying the box office figures of “Tubelight” is disappointing.

The Kabir Khan-directed movie, which released in 4,400 screens nationwide yesterday, was expected to open between Rs 25-30 crore. The movie has hit the theatres three days before Eid and trade pundits believe, the film is likely to pick up over the weekend and may mint up to Rs 55 crore.

“The film saw a disappointing opening. We expected it to open at Rs 30 crore but it has opened very low as compared to any Salman Khan film. People have not liked the content much…so it’s not doing well,” film distributor Rajesh Thadani told PTI. “Going ahead, we predict it should do a business of Rs 55-60 crore over the weekend,” he added.

Another leading distributor, Akshaye Rathi too thinks this is the lowest opening for any Salman Khan film in the recent past.

“‘Tubelight’ has got a poor opening. There could be various reasons for the low day one collection, like usually people don’t go out during the holy month of Ramzan. But we are hopeful that it will pick up next week. On Monday, the film should do a business of nearly Rs 25 crore,” Rathi says.

“Tubelight” is the official remake of Hollywood war- drama, “Little Boy”. Set at the backdrop of 1962 India-China war, “Tubelight” has Salman’s sibling Sohail Khan, playing his reel life brother.

The movie also stars Om Puri, Chinese actress Zhu Zhu and child actor Matin Rey Tangu.