Akshay Kumar's "Rustom" has beaten Hrithik Roshan's "Mohenjo Daro" and led the race at the Indian box office in the first weekend, but they have failed to cross Rs 100 crore mark together in three days.
"Rustom" was released on 2317 screens across the domestic market amidst huge hype, promotion and expectations. The movie, which had good advance booking, received good opening and registered an average of 50 percent occupancy on Friday. The movie collected Rs. 14.11 crore nett at the Indian box office and became the fourth biggest Bollywood opener of the year 2016.
The Akshay Kumar and Ileana starrer received good talk from audience and critics and the word of mouth helped the film go from strength to strength on the following days. The Tinu Desai-directed film collected Rs 16.43 crore on Saturday and Rs 17.50 crore on Sunday in the domestic market. "Rustom" has collected approximately Rs. 48.04 crore nett at the India box office in the first weekend.
On other hand, "Mohenjo Daro," which was released in 2500 screens, was much bigger than "Rustom" in terms of screen count, star power, production, hype and promotion. So it was expected to start with a bang and lead the race, by collecting over Rs. 16 crore in the domestic market. The film opened to an average of 40 percent occupancy and collected Rs. 8.87 crore nett at the Indian box office on the first day.
Despite getting mixed talk, the Hrithik Roshan and Pooja Hegde starrer showed growth on the following days, but it was not up to the expected mark. The Ashuthosh Gowarikar-directed film raked Rs. 9.50 crore on Saturday and Rs. 10.25 crore on Sunday in the domestic market. "Mohenjo Daro" has collected approximately Rs. 28.62 crore at the Indian box office in the first weekend.
Salman, Shah Rukh and Aamir Khan are the most popular Bollywood actors and they have proved that scoring a century is an easy bet for them with most of their films surpassing Rs. 100 crore mark in just three days. Akshay Kumar and Hrithik Roshan may not be equal to the Khans, but it was much easier for them to do together what every single Khan did. Their latest outings were expected to collect over Rs 100 crore in the domestic market in the first weekend.
"Rustom" and "Mohenjo Daro" have collected approximately Rs 76.66 crore nett together at the Indian box office in the first weekend and they have failed to score a century. "Rustom" has lived up to the stature of Akshay Kumar and its first weekend collection is on par with his recent hits. But "Mohenjo Daro" has turned out to be a colossal disaster.