Pathaan vs Kranti: Darshan's film off to a good start but Shah Rukh Khan threat looms large

Kranti is off to a highly encouraging start at the box office as the advance ticket sales continue to pick up for the opening day of the theatrical release. The makers opened up advance bookings on January 22nd and the film managed to sell more than 77,000 tickets across Karnataka on the first day alone. 

As per the latest trade reports, the second day of advance booking has now made significant contributions to the first day's exploits by taking the overall ticket count close to 1.3 lakhs (as of 9 a.m., January 24th). With the pre-release collections now inching toward the Rs. 3.5 crore mark (gross figures), Challenging Star Darshan & Co. seems well-placed to score a big hit at the box office. Kranti releases in theatres on January 26th.

However, Kranti's theatrical run could be ambushed by the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Pathaan which is currently going great guns with respect to advance bookings. While Pathaan boasts a much wider release compared to the Kannada film (both in terms of screen count and the number of languages it is releasing in), the film has gotten off to an incredible start and is even likely to outdo Kranti in Bengaluru. 

According to the same trade reports, Pathaan has already collected more than Rs. 4.10 crores in Bengaluru alone (for the first five days of release) in advance sales, edging out Kranti which has collected about Rs. 3.15 crores so far (for the opening day of release, January 25th). Is the Pathaan looming large on team Kranti? It would certainly seem so and with Pathaan releasing a day earlier, the head-start, too, could make a considerable difference. 

Regardless, the opening day reviews will play a huge role in how the two films evolve at the box office. While the films boast fairly contrasting and dissimilar target audiences, Kranti's theatrical run will depend a lot on the initial verdict - one could expect Darshan's ardent fan base to come to his rescue but strong word-of-mouth publicity will boost the chances. More updates to follow.