Vedaa, starring John Abraham, Sharvari Wagh and Tamannaah Bhatia, hit theatres on Independence Day. It faced tough competition from the horror-comedy Stree 2 and Akshay Kumar's Khel Khel Mein. Although Vedaa couldn't keep pace with Stree 2 at the box office, it managed to outperform Khel Khel Mein. As per Sacnilk, Vedaa earned Rs 6.52 crore in the domestic market on its first day, with Rs 6.5 crore coming from the Hindi version and Rs 50 lakh each from the Tamil and Telugu versions. In comparison, Stree 2 collected an impressive Rs 54 crore on day one, while Khel Khel Mein brought in around Rs 5 crore.
Vedaa saw an overall Hindi occupancy rate of 35.63 per cent on Thursday, with Mumbai recording 37 per cent occupancy across 415 shows, and Delhi-NCR seeing 41.50 per cent occupancy across 475 shows.
This marks John Abraham's biggest opening in six years since his 2018 Independence Day hit Satyameva Jayate, which collected Rs 19 crore on its first day. Despite this, his highest opening remains Pathaan (2023), directed by Siddharth Anand, where John played a significant role alongside Shah Rukh Khan. In recent years, John's films have generally opened in the single digits, with Ek Villain Returns earning Rs 7 crore, Attack making Rs 3 crore, Satyameva Jayate 2 at Rs 3 crore and Mumbai Saga at Rs 2.8 crore.
Directed by Nikkhil Advani, who previously helmed Kal Ho Naa Ho, Vedaa received mixed reviews from critics. The duo's last collaboration, Batla House, had a stronger opening, with Rs 14 crore on its first day.
