Sajid Khan's multi starrer "Humshakals" has opened well on the first day of its release. The film has minted ₹12.5 crore, thus becoming the third highest opening day grosser of 2014.
"Humshakals" has surpassed the first day collections of Akshay Kumar-Sonakshi Sinha's "Holiday- A Soldier is Never Off Duty" and Arjun Kapoor-Alia Bhatt's "2 States," which amount to ₹12.18 crore and ₹12.42 crore, respectively.
The Saif Ali Khan-Riteish Deshmukh is 2014's third highest opener after Salman Khan's "Jai Ho" (₹17.75 crore) and Arjun-Ranveer Singh's "Gunday" (₹16.12) crore. For Saif, "Humshakals" is the second highest opener after 2013-release "Race 2", which collected ₹15.12 crore. The film has also surpassed the first day collections of Sajid's last release "Himmatwala" which had minted ₹12.1 crore.
"Humshakals" performed well despite receiving poor reviews from critics, who had termed it as a boring, dim-witted comedy film. The mutli starrer had a slow start but picked up well later in the day on 20 June. It received a good footfall during evening and night shows in multiplexes as well as in single screens.
While the first day collections of the comic caper have been good, it remains to be seen as to how the film performs in its opening weekend.
Negative feedback from critics might affect "Humshakals" business in the coming days . Moreover, the comedy entertainer might also face some competition from action entertainer "Holiday", which is still running successfully in theatres. One needs to wait and watch if the multi starrer will be able to sustain well and end the first weekend on a good note. As of now, "Jai Ho" tops the list of highest opening weekend grossers with ₹60.68 crore collections. "Gunday" is second in the list with ₹43.93 crore and "Holiday" takes the third spot with ₹41.32 crore. It will be interesting to see if "Humshakals" manages to beat "Holiday" debut weekend figures.
"Humshakals" has Saif, Riteish and Ram Kapoor in triple roles, all with the same name. Tamannaah Bhatia, Bipasha Basu, Esha Gupta and Saurab Shukla are also part of the film's cast. The comedy entertainer is co-produced by Vashu Bhagnani under Pooja Entertainment India Ltd. banner and Fox Star Studios.
The film's music is composed by Himesh Reshammiya, Cinematography is handled by Ravi Yadav and editing done by Rameshwar S. Bhagat.
