SRK 'Dilwale' King at Weekend Box Office Despite Challenge From Deepika's Bajirao Mastani

It was probably kind of silly to think that Shah Rukh Khan's newest film would not be a major hit. Khan didn't become the King of Bollywood by making flops. This weekend, though, SRK found himself with a bit of a challenge on his hand. Deepika Padukone, herself on a major roll of late at the box office had a film of her own coming, the critically acclaimed Bajirao Mastani.

Dilwale was the least likely to fail of the two. It had received plenty of hype in the run up and, of course, benefitted from having Mr. Shah Rukh Khan in it. SRK's appeal has not only helped the film domestically but internationally as well. From Filmibeat comes the details, "Directed by Rohit Shetty, Dilwale earned Rs 21 Crores on day one, but witnessed a minute drop on Saturday as it earned Rs 20.09 Crores. The Sunday collection of the movie is Rs 24 Crores as most of the shows were houseful on Sunday."

The impressive thing for the film and its star, SRK, is that the film's box office intake slipped only briefly on Saturday before playing to near full houses on Sunday. As for the overseas, Dilwale pulled in $8.5 million dollars. The film had a distinctly international flavor to it as it was shot in Bulgaria, India and the US for 120 crore budget. All this despite lukewarm critical reviews. The Indian Express was particularly harsh on the film. Here's what it had to say, "There's nothing new in 'Dilwale', which steals moments not just from Rohit Shetty's 'Golmaal' films, but also from Hollywood rom com 'Love Actually'. Rohit Shetty is back in his favourite Goa, choosing to use sets which look like sets, done up in blindingly bright colours ( it's almost as if the scenarist is scared to miss out a single hue in the palette)":

Be that as it may, the appeal of SRK helped to transcend these flaws.Now, the film has bigger fish to fry as it looks to dislodge some of Salman Khan's films from the record book.