It was almost five years back when Jab Tak Hai Jaan released. The film arrived on a clash with Son of Sardaar and still managed to garner over 15 crores. Ever since then, in half a decade gone by, even though some of the Shah Rukh Khan films may not really have covered the kind of distance that the superstar merits, the opening was close to 20 crores or a lot more. As a matter of fact, even an offbeat film like Fan took a good start while Happy New Year hit the roof with a record opening day number that is yet to be broken.
However, the numbers of Jab Harry Met Sejal – though in line with the genre, reach and merits of the film – are still decent, they are still the lowest in Shah Rukh Khan’s career since Jab Tak Hai Jaan.
One look at the first day numbers of films starring Shah Rukh Khan over the years and you get the picture:
Happy New Year – 42.60 crore
Chennai Express – 33.10 crore
Dilwale – 21 crore
Raees – 20.42 crore
Fan – 19.20 crore
Jab Harry Met Sejal – 15.25 crore
Jab Tak Hai Jaan – 15.23 crore
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What is even more interesting to note is the fact that so many of his films managed to score bigger than Jab Harry Met Sejal despite a clash and that too with a worthy opponent. As mentioned earlier, Jab Tak Hai Jaan arrived alongside Son of Sardaar. Dilwale came with Bajirao Mastani, which eventually emerged as a much bigger success. On the other hand even Raees had to clash with Kaabil, which went on to have a much better pull in theaters.
However, Jab Harry Met Sejal arrived solo (after making a smart call to not clash with Toilet – Ek Prem Katha) and has still fared much lesser.
No wonder, Bollywood’s wait for a big ticket opening continues and one waits to see whether the jinx would be broken with Toilet – Ek Prem Katha that arrives on the coming Friday.