The wait was worth the weight in gold. Rohit Shetty and Akshay Kumar’s first film together is a certifiable blockbusters.

Collections from all over the country are far better and bigger than expected. The Rohit Shetty cops-and-terrorists action-comedy registered the second-highest collections for an Akshay Kumar starrer. According to Boxoffice India,for Rohit Shetty it is the fourth best opening day after Singham Returns, Chennai Express and Golmaal Again.

Considering the Covid restrictions this is not just an incredible circumstance but also highly encouraging for the movie-theatre business.

Trade guru and boxoffice expert Taran Adarsh is gung-ho about the roaring collections. “Well it is a fantastic start. Sooryavanshi has revived the Hindi film industry. It has infused oxygen in the lungs of the ailing film industry. It’s a very very positive sign. We are at the moment looking at 27 crores as the first day’s collection. This, despite Maharashtra, the largest boxoffice contributor, only being allowed fifty percent occupancy.”

Taran sees a bright future for the ailing movie business. “ It’s a great revival we are witnessing right now. In the coming weeks we will see a lot of good things happening to the movie business. Good content will always triumph.I would say , not just movies but cinemas are back. Last year there were so many skeptics saying people don’t want to go back to movie theatres. They have all been proven wrong. Big-screen entertainers , the experience of watching movies on the wide screen can never fail.”

Says producer-director Suneel Darshan(who directed Akshay Kumar in Jaanwar considered a turning point in the actor’s career), “The rousing opening-day reception to Sooryavanshi has come like a torrential downpour to the auditoriums that were parched since over 21 months…!

Girish Johar, producer and trade analyst feels Sooryavanshi has disproved all the misgivings about the future of cinemas after the pandemic. “The fantastic start of Sooryavanshi has demolished various notions of big screen taking a back seat or OTT being premium screen for filmmakers. India is a growing market and Cinema Screen Entertainment is here to stay. Yes, content may become selective but Big Screen means Big Entertainment. And SOORYAVANSHI is just that”

Johar feels producers like Reliance Entertainment(Sooryavanshi) and Salman Khan(Antim: The Final Truth) who waited for the theatres to re-open, were on the right track. “The patience of makers has paid off.The fantastic opening of Sooryavanshi has assured it a HIT STATUS already. Despite capacity restrictions the audiences have thronged to theatres on Day 1. This resurrects our faith in entertaining cinema. Really hope that like other industries of travel and eating, REVENGE CINEMA VIEWING comes into play here as well within our country. Pretty confident that the brilliant start of Sooryavanshi ensures that other forthcoming films will release with full throttle.”

Bihar’s prominent movie distributor Kishan Damani is ecstatic. “Sooryavanshi opening has ruled out all theories that OTT would affect theatrical business …. The audience were just waiting to be back to theatres and with Sooryavanshi the same has been proved … Nothing can ever replace the theatrical experience.”

However trade analyst Amod Mehra cautions against over-optimism. “I would advise everyone to wait till Monday before celebrating.”