Journalism of Courage
2018 has been an interesting year in terms of Bollywood releases. While it has been less than a quarter of a year, we have already seen a variety of films hitting the theatres. While some of them bombed miserably at the box office, others have been marvellous successes. The year's biggest release so far has been Sanjay Leela Bhansali's highly controversial film Padmaavat which broke a number of records. Akshay Kumar's PadMan and Luv Ranjan's Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety have been the other noteworthy releases. Here are Bollywood's biggest opening weekends of 2018:
Raid - Rs 41.01 crore
The latest addition to this list, Raid is based on an Income Tax raid by an honest and fearless income tax officer on one of the wealthy politician-cum-businessmen of Lucknow. Starring Ajay Devgn, Ileana D'Cruz, and Saurabh Shukla, the film is directed by Raj Kumar Gupta. Despite the film receiving mixed reviews, audiences flocked to the theatres to watch this film. After opening at Rs 10.04 crore, the film went on to collect Rs 41.01 crore in the first weekend.
Raid - Rs 41.01 crore
The latest addition to this list, Raid is based on an Income Tax raid by an honest and fearless income tax officer on one of the wealthy politician-cum-businessmen of Lucknow. Starring Ajay Devgn, Ileana D'Cruz, and Saurabh Shukla, the film is directed by Raj Kumar Gupta. Despite the film receiving mixed reviews, audiences flocked to the theatres to watch this film. After opening at Rs 10.04 crore, the film went on to collect Rs 41.01 crore in the first weekend.
PadMan - Rs 40.05 crore
Akshay Kumar's social drama PadMan, which aims to normalise the conversation around menstruation, is based on the life of a social entrepreneur Arunachalam Muruganantham, the man who created low-cost sanitary pad-making machines. Opening at Rs 10.26 crore on Friday, the film went on to collect Rs 40.05 crore in its first weekend, just a little short of Raid's collection.
Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety - Rs 26.57 crore
Probably the most surprising entry in this list, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety comes from the same brand of filmmaking as Pyar Ka Punchnama. It also featured the trio from that film, director Luv Ranjan and actors Kartik Aaryan and Nushrat Bharucha. The film clicked well with the young Indian audiences with its take on how a best friend's relationship changes after one of them gets hitched.
Pari - Rs 15.34 crore
Anushka Sharma's latest horror offering Pari hit the theatres on Holi this year with an underwhelming opening figure of Rs 4.36 crore. Despite it being touted as one of the genuine horror Bollywood movies featuring an A-lister, Pari failed to impress audiences as well as critics. Its first weekend collected stands at Rs 15.34 as it grabs the fifth spot in this list.
