Box office: Kabir Singh has a great opening with Rs20 crore

Kabir Singh, Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Hindi remake of his own cult Telugu film Arjun Reddy (2017), seems to have connected with audiences. The problematic love story earned neary Rs20 crore nett at the ticket counters on its opening day yesterday, according to numbers shared by BoxOfficeIndia.com.

Kabir Singh, thus, becomes the film with the third highest opening this year after Bharat (2019) and Kesari (2019). Both those films, however, were released on holidays. Bharat was released on Eid while Kesari was released on Holi.

Notably, Kabir Singh also becomes actor Shahid Kapoor's solo release with the biggest opening, dethroning R... Rajkumar (2013). In fact, it beat the opening (Rs18 crore) of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmaavat (2018), in which Kapoor starred with Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh.

The film is likely to be affected by the matches at the cricket World Cup, as India plays Afghanistan today. But seeing as it has connected with younger audiences, it might do well over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the year's biggest opener Bharat (2019) earned Rs75 lakh on its third Friday. While its collections continue to go down, the film has now collected over Rs193 crore nett so far. Whether it can reach Rs200 crore in its theatrical run remains to be seen.