It’s been a good weekend for Emraan Hashmi as his film Awarapan 2 has comfortably outrun They drive 1947the Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta film that opened in cinemas on the very same day, 14 August.
The romantic drama opened at Rs 22 crore net, then got a big lift on Saturday thanks to the Independence Day holiday, collections jumped 53% to Rs 33.75 crore.
There was a dip on Sunday, down 23% to Rs 26.25 crore, but even so the film closed out its first weekend with close to Rs 81.75 crore net in India, according to trade tracker Sacnilk.
They drive 1947 just couldn’t match that pace. It started much smaller at Rs 5.75 crore on day one. Saturday brought the same holiday bump, up 135% to Rs 13.50 crore, which for a moment looked promising.
But then Sunday collections fell off a cliff, dropping 46% to Rs 7.25 crore. All told, the film has made Rs 26.50 crore over three days, less than what Awarapan 2 pulled in on Sunday alone.
Put next to Sunny Deol’s other recent films, the picture gets worse. Border 2 had already crossed Rs 121 crore by the end of its opening weekend, with Rs 54.50 crore coming on day three alone. Bridge 2 did even better back in 2023, taking Rs 134.88 crore in three days.
For Emraan Hashmi, though, this is a big deal, as it’s his first real hit in almost a decade, after a run of films that didn’t land.
Made on a reported budget of Rs 45 crore, Awarapan 2 is now being talked about as one of 2026’s Bollywood successes, alongside Border 2 and The Kerala Story 2.
Nitin Kakkar directs Awarapan 2which also has Disha Patani and Shabana Azmi in the cast.
They drive 1947set during Partition, marks Preity Zinta’s return to films after nearly ten years, and also brings Sunny Deol and his son Karan Deol together on screen for the first time. Ali Fazal features too.