Box-Office Loves Salman Khan

The year from Diwali 2010 to Diwali 2011 was definitely the year of Salman Khan. Two years ago, his Main Aur Mrs. Khanna couldn’t survive even one week in cinemas and was premiered on the DTH platform within five days of its release. After the release of Wanted (in September 2009), he’s had a run that even he couldn’t have dreamed of – Dabangg, Ready and now, Bodyguard – Main Aur Mrs. Khanna notwithstanding. How fate changed for Salman is unfathomable, but the film industry has been reaping the harvest ever since. Salman’s Bodyguard netted an unbelievable Rs. 20+ crore on the first day, on the festive occasion of Eid, making it the highest single day net collection for any film, ever. Obviously, Salman owns Eid in Bollywood: last Eid, his Dabangg had smashed all previous records on the day of its release, netting Rs. 14.35 crore on the opening day. In the Overseas circuit too, the opening day’s gross collection of Bodyguard in Dubai was 11 lakh dirhams, which was 4 lakh dirhams more than the previous record-holding film – again a Salman Khan starrer, Dabangg. In the UK, the first day’s record gross of Bodyguard was £60,000 but the next day, which was Eid (the film opened in UK a day before Eid), the gross collection jumped to £2,00,000, which is the highest single week-day collection ever for a Hindi film! Nobody has calculated this before, but on the Eid day, Salman Khan must be the world’s biggest star!