The countdown is on for the high-octane box office clash between two of the most anticipated Indian films of 2023 — Rajkumar Hirani’s Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Dunki and Prashanth Neel’s Prabhas-starrer Salaar Part 1 – Ceasefire. With Dunki set to hit the screens on December 21 and Salaar landing a day later, tickets for both films are selling like hotcakes after advance bookings started recently.
However, the pre-release business figures reveal an unexpected trend where the comedy drama Dunki is outperforming the epic action-thriller Salaar in terms of Day 1 business. While Dunki, releasing only in Hindi, has already grossed Rs 7.39 crore by selling 2,52,207 tickets for 9,681 shows nationwide, Salaar has so far managed to eke out only Rs 6.01 crore across all languages, according to industry tracker Sacnilk. The film has sold 2,47,572 tickets for the 4,338 listed shows.
Salaar’s advance booking business is predominantly led by its Telugu version, generating Rs 3.5 crore. Meanwhile, its Hindi version gained momentum on Monday, increasing ticket sales to 36,097 and earning Rs 1.1 crore. In the case of the Malayalam version of Salaar, 65,809 tickets (Rs 98 lakh) have been sold for 905 shows so far, while the film’s Tamil and Kannada versions have seen sales of 9,446 tickets (Rs 12 lakh) and 4,673 tickets (Rs 9.9 lakh), respectively.
Dunki marks Shah Rukh Khan’s third release this year, following the tremendous success of Siddharth Anand’s Pathaan and Atlee Kumar’s Jawan, both of which earned over Rs 1,000 crore globally. In the case of Prabhas, whose last few releases failed to create any impact at the box office, Salaar holds significant importance as it is anticipated to mark his triumphant comeback.
Centred around the concept of Donkey Flight, an unconventional method for gaining entry into countries like the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States of America, Hirani’s Dunki also stars Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal, Boman Irani, and Vikram Kochhar in key roles. Apart from Prabhas and Prithviraj, Neel’s Salaar also features Shruti Hassan, Jagapathi Babu, Bobby Simha, and Tinnu Anand.
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Dunki vs Salaar advance box office: Shah Rukh Khan’s comedy drama has clear upper-hand over Prabhas’ epic actioner, leads by over Rs 1 crore – The Indian Express
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