Box Office Collection Day 1: Biggest Opener of Varun Dhawan In 5 Years
New Delhi: Varun Dhawan’s Baby John hits screens today on Christmas Day, 25 December. Oh boy. The film seems to have a promising beginning at the box office.
The Kaless directorial managed Rs 12.50 crore in its opening day, reports Sacnilk. The occupancy percentage for Hindi screens was at 24.97%.
Baby John marks Varun Dhawan’s biggest opening in the past 5 years. Before this, his 2019 release Kalank, also featuring Alia Bhatt, Madhuri Dixit, Sanjay Dutt, Aditya Roy Kapur, and Sonakshi Sinha, earned Rs 21.60 crore on its opening day. Varun’s last few theatrical releases including Street Dancer 3D (2020), Jug Jugg Jeeyo (2022), and Bhediya (2022) failed to hit the double-digit opening.
A day before Baby John’s release, Varun Dhawan visited the Mahakaleshwar Temple In Ujjain with film’s producer Atlee. The actor shared a photo from his visit to the holy shrine on Instagram. The image features Varun offering prayers to the deity. The note attached to the image read, “Blessed. Jai Mahakal.”
Produced by Atlee, his wife Priya, Murad Khetani, and Jyoti Deshpande, Baby John is a remake of the 2016 Tamil action thriller Theri. The film shows Varun Dhawan in a never-seen-before avatar.
Varun Dhawan of Baby John, in a candid interview with News18 revealed that it was mainly his body who did stunts in this film, adding he has nearly done all the stunts and used minimal body doubling, “The scale of action in this film is humongous and for action directors had me hanging upside down for more than six hours, giving them, hopefully, some endurance like never before, I was just on for the longest shoot they would have,” he also claimed.
Talking about director Kalees, Varun Dhawan said, “Working with Kalees was a challenge in the best way—he pushed me to explore my physical limits every day.”
He continued, “I remember Atlee stepping in at one point to remind us to prioritise safety and not let the pursuit of perfection lead to unnecessary risks. It’s been a tough but fulfilling journey.”
Apart from Varun Dhawan, the cast of Baby John comprises Keerthy Suresh, Wamiqa Gabbi and Jackie Shroff in key roles. The film is currently facing stiff competition at the box office from Allu Arjun’s Pushpa 2.
