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Amid protests and threats of violence, Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone’s Pathaan has made history with its first day box office collection of INR 530 million. SRK made his comeback on the silver screen after four years and his fans seem to be welcoming him back with arms wide open.

On Wednesday, Pathaan’s first day of screening, Bollywood Hungama reports that the film set a new record in Hindi cinema by collecting between INR 530m to 550m on its opening day. It has become both the biggest non-holiday film of all time as well as the biggest opener in the history of Hindi cinema.

The publication also reported that Pathaan was running with packed houses across India.

The three main cinema chains of the country, PVR, Inox and Cinepolis, contributed a total of INR 265million, amounting to 50 per cent of the total business, according to Bollywood Hungama. Pathaan is also reported to be doing well on single screens and business is expected to see another spike today, on the second day of the film’s release, due to the Republic Day holiday. If it collects an equal or greater amount as its first day, Pathaan will become the first film in the history of Hindi cinema to make INR 1 billion in two days since its release.

Bollywood Hungama said that audience word of mouth is “extremely positive” and the same can be said for critic reviews. If Pathaan makes INR 3 billion, it will become the first-ever SRK film to do so.

Pathaan’s Hindi version collected INR 500 to 520 million whereas the Tamil and Telugu dubbed versions made an additional INR 30 million, taking the total collection in the range of INR 550million. The media is expecting the numbers to double today.

The film also stars John Abraham, Dimple Kapadia, Ashutosh Rana, Siddhant Ghegadmal and features a cameo of Salman Khan. Pathaan is an Indian spy thriller where SRK plays a spy who takes on the leader of a group of mercenaries on a mission to target his homeland.