'Dunki' Box Office Day 1: Shah Rukh Khan starrer earns Rs 30 crore; actor's lowest opener of 2023

Shah Rukh Khan’s third and final film of the year- ‘Dunki’ has released. The film has drawn collection of Rs 30 crore on opening day in domestic market. Compared to the other two superhits ‘Pathaan’ and ‘Jawan’, ‘Dunki’ is the lowest first day opening for King Khan. ‘Pathaan’ earned Rs 55 crore, while ‘Jawan’ had minted Rs 75 crore on the first day. ‘Dunki’ saw an overall 29.94% occupancy on Thursday. Going by the first day opening, ‘Dunki’ is expected to recover its budget of Rs 120 crore within a week. 

With Rs 30 crore opening day collection, ‘Dunki’ is 7th biggest opener of 2023, with Shah Rukh’s other 2 films featuring in the top 6. Despite the film being least successful of the year for Shah Rukh, this Christmas release doesn’t take anything away from the fact that this has been an overall great year for him.  

For the ‘Dunki’ director Raj Kumar Hirani who has held an amazing box office record with films like PK, 3 idiots and Sanju, the first day opening of Dunki has not been great. Hirani’s last hit ‘Sanju’ had made Rs 34.75 crore on first day at box office. While Hirani’s ‘Dunki’ got a solo opening on Thursday, it will face a clash with Prabhas starrer ‘Salaar’ releasing on Friday. Both the films will race against each other this weekend even though Salaar seems already ahead with advance booking soaring high.  

Despite the mixed reviews of movie goers and critics, the excitement among Shah Rukh fans remained high across the globe. Videos emerged from different cities in India and even beyond India of fans celebrating and giving standing ovations to the film.  

Released post the massive success of Ranbir Kapoor’s Animal, ‘Dunki’ marks another step in Bollywood’s resurgence this year. Many film experts believe that the weekend might do wonders for the film also featuring Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal and Boman Irani.