Cinemagoers had a feast this Diwali, as they were fed with a mix of romance, action and comedy. It also got the cash registers ringing for both Yash Raj Films’ Jab Tak Hai Jaan (JTHJ) and Ajay Devgn’s Son of Sardaar (SOS).

The two movies together raked in an estimated Rs 26 crore on the first day (November 13), according to estimates.

JTHJ was in the lead and earned Rs 15.23 crore at the domestic box office and has estimated to have got the highest first day collection for a movie released on the Diwali day. Son of Sardaar raked in around Rs 10.72 crore.

Trade analyst Komal Nahata said that despite the two movies competing at the box office, together they have raked in one of the highest revenues on Diwali day. He said that while JTHJ is a family film, Son of Sardaar has more mass appeal.

Multiplexes said that Wednesday is expected to be even bigger in terms of revenues than Tuesday, as due to Diwali festivities, the evening and night shows witnessed a dip in occupancies.

Gautam Dutta, COO PVR, said: “Overall on Diwali day, screens across our multiplexes garnered an average occupancy of 77 per cent. With the increase in the number of multiplex screens, the occupancy for night shows was higher than last year despite it being the Laxmi Pooja Day.”

Added Girish Wankhede, Head-Marketing, Cinemax India, “This will be the biggest Diwali for the Hindi movie industry as there is a strong buzz around both the movies.”

He said that though Son of Sardaar opened with lower occupancy numbers than its rival on Tuesday, it picked up on the second day.

> meenakshi.v@thehindu.co.in

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