The Indian box office had a cracker of a Diwali with both the new releases —Ajay Devgn’s Singham Again and Kartik Aaryan-starrer Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3— delivering career-best opening for the lead stars and zooming past the Rs 35-crore mark on Day 1.

According to Sacnilk, Singham Again raked in an impressive Rs 43.50 crore nett on its first day, marking the highest-ever opening for Ajay Devgn, outpacing Singham Returns, which earned Rs 32.09 crore nett on its release day in 2014. Meanwhile, Anees Bazmee’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 grossed Rs 35.5 crore nett, marking the biggest debut of Kartik Aaryan's career and overshadowing the Rs 13.45 crore nett opening for Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 in 2022.

Singham Again and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 have emerged as the highest and second-highest opening Hindi grossers of 2024, respectively. The Hindi version of Prabhas-starrer Kalki 2898 AD (Rs 23.5 crore nett) and Hrithik Roshan’s Fighter (Rs 22.5 crore nett) held these positions till now.

Ajay Devgn, Ranveer Singh, and Akshay Kumar return as the core ensemble of Rohit Shetty’s cop universe in Singham Again with several exciting additions, including Deepika Padukone as Shakti Shetty, Tiger Shroff as Satya and Salman Khan in a cameo as Chulbul Pandey. Arjun Kapoor appears as the main antagonist in the film.

Singham Again saw 73.50 per cent occupancy across 1,101 shows in Mumbai, 76.25 per cent for 751 screenings in Ahmedabad, and a strong showing in Jaipur, where occupancy reached 85.25 per cent for 165 screenings. Lucknow reported an impressive 77.50 per cent for 228 shows.

Meanwhile, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 brings back the franchise’s unique blend of horror and comedy, set in a village in West Bengal this time. Alongside Kartik, the film’s ensemble cast includes Vidya Balan, Madhuri Dixit and Triptii Dimri.

Occupancy rates have been particularly strong for Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, with 81.75 per cent across 789 shows in Mumbai, 79.50 per cent across 957 shows in the National Capital Region (NCR), and 86.00 per cent occupancy in Jaipur for 118 shows.