Director Rajkumar Hirani’s Sanju (2018) has registered the highest weekend collection for a Hindi film. The Ranbir Kapoor-starrer, which is the biopic of senior actor Sanjay Dutt, has amassed a massive Rs117.75 crore in the first weekend. Sanju is also Kapoor's fastest film to cross the Rs100-crore mark.
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The number is around Rs10 crore short of the first weekend collection (Rs127.28 crore) of Baahubali: The Conclusion's (2017) Hindi version. However, since that was a Telugu film dubbed in Hindi, Sanju holds the record for the highest first weekend collection.
It has broken the previous three-day record held by Tiger Zinda Hai (2017) at Rs114.75 crore. Sanju has equalled the highest one-day (Saturday) collection with that of the Salman Khan-starrer as it made Rs45.50 crore.
A film usually grows over the weekend. In the case of Sanju, the growth has been phenomenal. Its Saturday and Sunday figures stand at Rs38.25 crore and Rs45.50 crore, respectively.
There was a lot of pre-release excitement and anticipation for the film for many reasons. One of them was to see a young actor play an older actor from the same industry. The opening number of Rs34 crore surpassed all expectations.
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The highest grossing Hindi film has been director Nitesh Tiwari’s Dangal (2016), starring Aamir Khan. Dangal had finished at Rs374.53 crore. The film had earned Rs104.53 crore in the first weekend. Sanju’s first three days’ number is much higher. Hence, if it continues to maintain the collections in the weekdays starting today, it stands a chance to beat Dangal's record.
Sanju has more than two weeks of a clear period at the box office, as the next anticipated release is Dhadak (2018) on 20 July.
Sanju is made at an estimated budget of Rs100 crore. Needless to say, it is going to be a profitable venture for the producers.