Akshay Kumar treated his fans with new film Kesari on Holi and the film recorded a rather promising first day. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted to say that Kesari has turned out to be the film to have the highest opening day collections so far: "Kesari roars... Sets the box office on fire... Emerges the biggest opener of 2019 [so far]." Kesari, which had restricted shows during the day because of Holi celebrations, picked up pace in the evening and garnered as much as Rs 21 crore on its first day in theatres: "After limited shows in morning/noon [Holi festivities], the biz witnessed massive growth from 3 pm/4 pm onwards... Evening shows saw terrific occupancy... Thu Rs 21.50 cr. India biz."
#Kesari roars... Sets the BO on ... Emerges the biggest opener of 2019 [so far]... After limited shows in morning/noon [#Holi festivities], the biz witnessed massive growth from 3 pm/4 pm onwards... Evening shows saw terrific occupancy... Thu Rs 21.50 cr. India biz.
— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) March 22, 2019
Kesari also marks Akshay Kumar's second biggest opening film after Gold, which fetched Rs 25 crore on Day 1. On the list of 2019 films with highest opening collections, Gully Boy ranks second to Kesari, followed by Total Dhamaal and Hollywood release Captain Marvel.
Top *Opening Day* biz - 2019...
— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) March 22, 2019
1. #Kesari Rs 21.50 cr [Thu]
2. #GullyBoy Rs 19.40 cr [Thu]
3. #TotalDhamaal Rs 16.50 cr
4. #CaptainMarvel Rs 13.01 cr
Note: Rs 10 cr+ openers.
India biz.#Kesari is Akshay Kumar's second biggest opener, after #Gold [Rs 25.25 cr; #IndependenceDay].
Meanwhile, Karan Johar, whose Dharma Productions produced Kesari, cheered for the film's opening day performance:
Gratitude for the abundant love for our film #Kesari! @SinghAnurag79 @akshaykumar ! pic.twitter.com/eZOefeRsrh
— Karan Johar (@karanjohar) March 22, 2019
Reminding viewers of Kesari's worldwide release, Akshay Kumar tweeted this on Friday: "Kesari has released. So I'm hiding in the bushes. Catch me if you can in cinemas worldwide."
#Kesari has released...
— Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) March 22, 2019
So I'm hiding in the bushes
Catch me if you can in cinemas Worldwide pic.twitter.com/xH0A7YwuXr
Directed by Anurag Singh, Kesari is based on the Battle of Saragarhi, 1897. Akshay Kumar plays the role of Havildar Ishar Singh, who leads a contingent of 21 Sikh soldiers of the British Indian Army against 10,000 Afghan invaders. In his review for NDTV, Saibal Chatterjee summed up the film's essence and wrote: "With Akshay Kumar doing the heavy lifting with unwavering enthusiasm, the star's fans will find it easy to get into the swing of this tale of extraordinary courage in the face of daunting adversity."
