Earlier this year, Sultan, the wrestling film starring Salman Khan set the cash registers ringing.
And soon after, the conversations began. How will Aamir Khan's Dangal, also revolving around wrestling rings, fare in comparison?
Image Source: twitter/Disney
Now that Dangal, the biopic of the famous wrestlers Geeta and Babita Phogat and their coach father Mahavir Singh Phogat, has released, the comparisons have gained momentum again.
SpotboyE.com spoke to distributors and exhibitors. The early predictions point to a bumper weekend for Dangal. Plus, we know Aamir's films maintain consistency.
Image Source: twitter/YRF
Leading distributor Hemant Shah told us that the Aamir Khan starrer looks set to cross Rs 300 crore, which implies that Sultan may find itself beaten.
Ravi Sibal, General Manager of PVR Juhu, told us that all shows after the 5 pm slot have been sold out.
Bhatia of single screen Premiere said that he had registered 100 per cent occupancy from 3pm onward.
Interestingly, most leading critics have given four stars to the film, including our very own Khalid Mohamed (Movie Review:
Aamir Khan’s Punch-Packed Dangal Is A Must-Experience, 21 Dec)
Image Source: twitter/Disney
Meanwhile, the remaining have given three stars to the Aamir-SakshiTanwar-Fatima Sana Shaikh-Sanya Malhotra-Zaira Hasim-Suhani Bhatnagar starrer. And this morning, Dangal got a Thumbs Up from Salman himself who tweeted that the film is so good that it made him "professionally hate" Aamir (I Hate You
Professionally Aamir, Says Salman Khan After His Family Watches Dangal,Dec 23).
Till now Sultan had looked comfortable at the top of the leaderboard of the biggest Bollywood hits of 2016.
Image Source: twitter/YRF
And with just a week to go, it looks like Aamir has turned the tables -but one never knows in Bollywood. For the final answer, we will have to wait though.
Thumbnail Image Source: twitter/dangal & twitter/sultanmovie