Rohit Shetty thought if Sooryavanshi made 130 crores it would be an achievement despite being confident about his film

Sooryavanshi has without a doubt been the biggest Bollywood film release of the year. The patience of the makers for holding off the film for 19 months during the pandemic is finally paying off as the film inches closer to the 200 crore mark at the box office. The film is a part of Rohit Shetty’s blockbuster cop universe which already boasted of stars like Ranveer Singh and Ajay Devgn and Sooryavanshi marked Akshay Kumar’s addition to it.

Rohit Shetty has now opened up about the fabulous welcome that Sooryavanshi received at the box office despite being delayed and said that he would have been happy even if the film closed at Rs. 130 crores. He told Mid-Day, “Rs 130 crore would have been an achievement as Maharashtra and some other centres were operating at 50 per cent theatrical capacity. I was always confident about the movie, but my only concern was whether the audience would come to the theatres [amid the pandemic]. I am happy they came in large numbers.”

Sooryavanshi has gone way beyond the filmmaker’s expectations as fans turned up at the cinemas in large numbers as the movie was released a day after Diwali. So far the film has collected Rs. 190 crores at the box office and remains Bollywood’s sole member of the 100 crore club post the re-opening of cinemas in October across the nation. It is expected to soon enter the 200 crore club with the way it is going.

The filmmaker further spoke about not taking the film to an OTT platform and said, “I didn’t feel tempted to take up their offer. Sooryavanshi is a big-screen experience. There are 40,000 cine employees in India, and there was speculation about cinemas not reopening [soon]. Somebody had to take that first step and release their movie in theatres. I couldn’t be selfish.”

Sooryavanshi also stars Jackie Shroff, Gulshan Grover, Sikander Kher, Katrina Kaif with Ranveer and Ajay making a cameo appearance.