Dunki Box Office Collection: Shah Rukh Khan Starrer is Going Steady

Rajkumar Hirani's latest comedy-drama, centered around illegal immigration, features Shah Rukh Khan, alongside Taapsee Pannu, Anil Grover, Boman Irani, Vikram Kochhar, and a special appearance by Vicky Kaushal. According to reports from Sacnilk Entertainment, Dunki had a promising start, and raked in Rs. 29.2 crore on its opening day despite December 21st being a weekday. The subsequent weekend witnessed steady numbers, with Friday contributing Rs. 20.12 crore, Saturday bringing in Rs. 25.61 crore, and Sunday topping the charts with Rs. 30.7 crore. The film's net domestic collection over the weekend reached Rs. 105.63 crore. 

Film Exhibitor Akkshay Rathie told Film Companion, “There is a feeling where a lot of people seem to be slightly underwhelmed by the numbers as well as the film's content at a certain level. Having said that, I really think that not every film has the same trajectory.” 

According to Rathi, it is unfair to compare Dunki with Khan’s other two releases this year. He said, “Jawan and Pathaan were absolute mass entertainers and they catered to the long tail of the market and therefore had the kind of numbers and openings that they did. Hirani's films are never about a massive opening, but they are what they call, lambe race ka ghoda (a horse in a longer race), which sustains for weeks together.” 

Dunki also clashed with Prashanth Neel’s Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire, which stars Prabhas and Prithviraj Sukumaran, at the box office. Rathi believes that this clash will not hurt anyone’s collections. He said, “The good thing is Dunki and Salaar are films that cater to very different demographics and mindsets. One is an absolute tier-2 or tier-3, single-screen friendly, mass entertainer (Salaar) and the other is a film for a slightly more evolved audience and is finding traction more in the multiplexes and the metro (Dunki). For these two to co-exist together is fairly seamless and both of them, in their own way, are doing really well. Comparing these two in terms of box office or content is like comparing not apples to oranges, but almost comparing apples to a camel.”