The Independence Day weekend brought a notable box office clash with the simultaneous release of Emraan Hashmi-starrer Awarapan 2 and Sunny Deol's Batwara 1947 on August 14. Early figures indicate a clear leader, with Awarapan 2 securing a substantial lead on its opening day.
Awarapan 2 Shows Strong Opening Performance
Directed by Nitin Kakkar, the romantic drama Awarapan 2 recorded an impressive Day 1 India net collection of ₹21 crore. This translates to a domestic gross box office collection of ₹25.20 crore. The film achieved an overall occupancy of approximately 45% across India, highlighting strong audience interest.
Key markets showed robust performance for Awarapan 2, with Lucknow leading at 66% occupancy. The National Capital Region (NCR) followed with 58.5%, and Chennai saw 59% occupancy, albeit from a smaller number of tracked shows. Mumbai recorded 39.5%, while Bengaluru and Hyderabad posted 47% and 49.8% respectively.
The film, which is a sequel, stars Emraan Hashmi, Disha Patani, Shabana Azmi, Salil Acharya, and Suvinder Vicky. It has a runtime of 2 hours 20 minutes and carries a U/A certification.
Batwara 1947 Lags Behind
In contrast, Rajkumar Santoshi's period drama Batwara 1947 opened with a Day 1 India net collection of ₹5.75 crore. Its gross domestic collection stood at ₹6.84 crore, marking a significant difference compared to its competitor. The film's overall occupancy was around 15%.
For Batwara 1947, Chennai recorded the highest occupancy at 30%, followed by Lucknow at 23.5% and Jaipur at 21.3%. NCR registered 18.3%, with Mumbai and Ahmedabad both recording 12.5% occupancy.
Set against the backdrop of the 1947 Partition of India, the film features Sunny Deol, Ali Fazal, Karan Deol, Preity Zinta, and Shabana Azmi. It has a runtime of approximately 2 hours 25 minutes and an A certification.