Chennai Express 200 Crore: SRK makes history!

In just 2 weeks since its release in India, Chennai Express has become only the second film to cross the 200 crore mark. The film has been on a record-breaking spree ever since it released during the Eid weekend, and even though the SRK starrer still needs a few lakhs to cross the lifetime business of 3 Idiots, its only a matter of time now. We haven’t received the official figures yet, but the Thursday business is likely to be around 3 – 3.5 crore net.

Here’s a look at some of the records that the film has broken on its ‘super-express’ journey at the box office.

1. Paid Previews: The 3 Idiots record of 2.75 crore, set more than 3 years ago, was broken. Chennai Express collected Rs 6.75 crore on Thursday (8th August).

2. First Day: Salman Khan’s Ek Tha Tiger collected Rs 32.92 crore last year, a record that many believed only Krrish 3 or Dhoom 3 could break. Chennai Express though, managed to beat ETT by 20 lakhs (0.2 cr) as the film collected Rs 33.12 on its opening day at the box office.

3. Highest Single Day Collections: Another one of the records previously held by Salman’s Ek Tha Tiger was overtaken. Eid releases have always managed to smash most records, and this year was no different. However, this time around, it was Shah Rukh Khan who reigned supreme at the box office.

4. Second Day: Ra One in 2011 collected 25 crore net (including all versions) in what was back then a record-breaking 25 crore net (including all versions). Chennai Express collected 28.06 crore, which is not only the highest collections on the second day of release, but also the biggest Saturday AND the third highest single day business ever! HUGE!

5. Weekend: Chennai Express crossed the 100 crore mark in its first weekend itself (including paid previews), a record that is likely to stay for long unless a major release gets two or more holidays in its first weekend

6. Fastest to 100 Crore: Ek Tha Tiger crossed the 100 crore mark in 5 days, Chennai Express did it in almost double quick time. The Shahrukh Khan film took just 3 days + paid previews.

7. First Week: This record too was blown away quite easily. Ek Tha Tiger collected 137.15 crore in 7 days, Chennai Express did 20 crores more – 156.71 crore. The film crossed the lifetime business of every film except Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, ETT and 3 Idiots in its first week itself! And this includes humongous blockbusters like Dabangg 2, Rowdy Rathore and Bodyguard!

8. Fastest to 150 crore: Chennai Express beat the 9 day record of ETT in 7 days.

9. Fastest to 200 crore: In 2 weeks, CE also became only the second film to collect 200 crores or more.

10. Highest grosser ever: Chennai Express will be the highest grosser in the history of Indian Cinema tomorrow (most likely)!

Here are a few other records that the film holds. Clearly, Chennai Express will be the film to beat for all major releases henceforth.

• Third film to gross 300 crores or more worldwide after Ek Tha Tiger and 3 Idiots.
• Second film to gross 350 crores or more.
• Third film to cross the 100 crore mark overseas – 3 Idiots and My Name Is Khan being the other two.
• Highest first weekend / first week collections in almost every country overseas.

Too many to list, really. Congratulations to the entire team of Chennai Express, more so to Shahrukh Khan – because at the end of the day, for a masala entertainer like Chennai Express to generate the business that it has and collect more than 100 crores in the overseas markets alone, is simply unheard of!