Mohit Suri’s latest romantic drama ‘Saiyaara’ hits theatres today, and all signs point toward it scripting box office history — potentially becoming the biggest Day 1 opener of the director’s career. Backed by a strong advance booking wave, the film — starring newcomers Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda — is generating numbers that may surpass the first-day collections of Suri’s previous benchmark, Ek Villain (2014), which opened at Rs 16.70 crore.According to data, Saiyaara has recorded an impressive Rs 9.39 crore gross in advance bookings alone, with over 3.8 lakh tickets sold across 7,850 shows nationwide. The film’s average ticket price (ATP) stands at Rs 213. When block seats are added, the figure climbs to Rs 12.49 crore, signaling a strong runway for the film’s theatrical launch.See more: ‘Saiyaara’ Movie Review and Release Live Updates
Mohit Suri’s Top Day 1 Grossers:
- Ek Villain – Rs 16.70 crore
- Half Girlfriend – Rs 10.30 crore
- Ek Villain Returns – Rs 7.05 crore
- Malang – Rs 6.71 crore
- Murder 2 – Rs 6.95 crore
Aashiqui 2 – Rs 6.10 crore- Hamari Adhuri Kahani – Rs 4.95 crore
Saiyaara is already poised to easily outperform several of these titles by the time first-day final numbers come in. The question now is: can it go all the way to dethrone Ek Villain, which featured Sidharth Malhotra and Shraddha Kapoor and was a breakout commercial success?Given the scale of advance bookings and the youthful buzz surrounding the film, trade insiders believe it’s very possible. Unlike Ek Villain, which starred known faces, Saiyaara is headlined by debutants — which makes the strong initial interest even more remarkable. The trailer’s blend of emotion, passion, and music — all hallmarks of Suri’s filmmaking — seems to have struck a chord with Gen Z and millennial audiences.Moreover, with today being a Friday and urban centres showing higher-than-expected pre-sales, the film could easily race past Rs 17 crore by the end of the day if word of mouth holds strong.
