Trust Bhai to save the year! After reeling from the effect of flops galore this 2017, the year ends with a bang with his actioner with a heart, Tiger Zinda Hai. The film is poised to cross the Rs.200 crore mark by the end of its first week itself. The Ali Abbas Zafar directorial is setting new benchmarks at the box office. The film did phenomenal business on Monday, Christmas day, and has crossed Rs.150 crore on Day 4. On Friday it raked in Rs.34.10 crore in an explosive opening, followed by Rs.35.30 crore on Saturday, Rs.45.53 crore on Sunday and Rs.36.54 crore on Monday. The collections of the film, which released on 5700 screens, out of which 4600 screens are in India and the rest are overseas, are already above Rs.151.47 crore… a thumping success already.

Naturally, expectations are soaring given that the Kabir Khan directed 2012 prequel, Ek Tha Tiger had also earned over Rs.300 crore. The sequel sees both Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif reprising their roles as RAW agent Avinash Rathore and Pakistani spy Zoya, respectively.

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Trade circles are abuzz with the expectation that the film is set for a long run at theatres, given that it has creamed any existing competition and there are no big releases coming in until January 26, when Akshay Kumar’s Padman and Sidharth Malhotra and Manoj Bajpayee’s Aiyaary will hit the screens.

Ironically, the film had left most reviewers less than satisfied. Anupama Chopra, in her review for Film Companion, had said, “Tiger Zinda Hai is flat-out exhausting. The story is much too long and convoluted. Apart from Tiger, none of them (other characters) make any impact. The film's biggest weakness is that it doesn't move you emotionally.”
Film critic Anna Vetticad had commented, “Tiger Zinda Hai's strength is that it is unapologetic about its stupidity. And so, although it is for the most part simplistic in the socio-political statements it lays on thick, it is packed with so much action that it ends up being a fun, even if clichéd, Bollywood-and-Bond-style masala flick which, if you are looking closely enough, does make a subversive point or two.”

Recently Bhai himself had declared, “I am telling the critics now: go give my film minus 100 stars, why just zero. My fans will anyway watch my film and that's my reward.”
He was bang-on!