Jawan set to bridge North-South divide with pan-India release
New Delhi: Jawan is reaching the theatres only this Thursday, but the Shah Rukh Khan starrer is likely to achieve something that only Southern cinema spectacles have managed so far: Securing a blockbuster opening outside their home regions. The film has garnered substantial bookings not only in the north but across south India as well.
Directed by Tamil filmmaker Atlee and starring southern stars Nayanthara and Vijay Sethupathi, the action drama is estimated to fetch record opening day collections of around ₹65-70 crore across the country. BookMyShow alone has seen 750,000 bookings so far.
The popularity of the film, whose Hindi version has garnered significant interest even in the southern and eastern regions, is expected to aid the revival of small-town, single-screen cinemas that have shown signs of recovery thanks to Gadar 2. Unlike Gadar 2, however, Jawan will have a solo release across 4,500-5,000 screens in India with trade analysts estimating first-day numbers to cross Khan’s previous release Pathaan, which had made around ₹55 crore on its opening day this January, the highest for a Hindi film so far.
“Buzz around the film is very positive and we’re expecting it to cross Pathaan’s opening day numbers," Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, executive director, PVR Inox Ltd, said. The firm, which has a total capacity of 1 million seats available across the country for the first day, has already sold 25% of it, which Bijli termed as very healthy.
While the Hindi version should lead revenues with a 70% share, the dubbed Tamil and Telugu versions should bring in the remaining 30%. Further, while there are some restrictions in the capital owing to the G20 summit, Bijli said only four cinemas in central Delhi with a seating capacity of
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