There was quite some surprise in store when ‘Airlift’ collected more on its 15th day when compared to the 14th day. Despite the release of ‘Ghayal Once Again’ and ‘Sanam Teri Kasam’, the film didn’t see a slide in collections on Friday. The trend continued on Saturday and Sunday as well, what with the film continuing to mint moolah. As a result, INR 85 million* more came in the third weekend.
With this, the film has now collected around INR 1.21 billion* at the box office in 17 days. These are very good numbers for the film and the weekend trend has ensured that the lifetime total would be around INR 1.30 billion.
As for the records that have already been broken, the Akshay Kumar film has now left behind ‘Holiday’ (INR 1.13 billion) and ‘Housefull 2’ (INR 1.16 billion**).
This is how Akshay Kumar’s biggest films are currently placed:
‘Holiday’ (2014) – INR 1.13 billion
‘Housefull 2’ (2012) – INR 1.16 billion
‘Airlift’ (2016) – INR 1.21 billion* (still running)
‘Rowdy Rathore’ (2012) – INR 1.33 billion
With director Raja Menon, Akshay Kumar has now delivered his second biggest grosser till date. It is interesting to note that his biggest film so far is an out and out ‘masala’ flick while the one next to it is his most niche success in a career spanning 25 years. In a matter of less than four years, Akshay has managed to accumulate an altogether new fan-base for himself. Now in addition to gentry, he has class segment to cater to as well, which brings in an altogether new dimension to his career.
* Final numbers awaited
** Last week, it was erroneously stated that ‘Housefull 2’ collections were INR 1.06 billion. These are actually INR 1.16 billion.
Note: All collections as per production and distributor sources
