Box office: Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety is 3rd best opener of 2018, Welcome To New York falls flat on Day 1

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety and Welcome To New York, which clashed at the box office on Friday, February 24, opened to a decent response at the theatres on its first day. The Kartik Aaryan and Nushrat Bharucha's film, however, fared much better than the Karan Johar-Diljit Dosanjh starrer.

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety collected Rs 6.42 crore nett on its opening day with its business faring better in Delhi, NCR and East Punjab regions. The movie has become the third best opener of the year after Padmaavat (Rs 24 crore) and Padman (Rs 10.26 crore).

"#SonuKeTituKiSweety takes a WINNING START... Emerges the third best opener of 2018 [thus far], after #Padmaavat and #PadMan... Biz is expected zoom upwards on Sat and Sun... Fri ₹ 6.42 cr. India biz... #SKTKS," trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted.

Despite the mixed response from audience and critics on Day 1, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety's decent collection can be attributed to director Luv Ranjan's previous hit films Pyar Ka Punchnama and Pyar Ka Punchnama 2 with the same cast Kartik and Nushrat.

Coming to Welcome To New York, the movie with an ensemble cast of Karan, Diljit, Sonakshi Sinha and others is a big let down at the box office. The movie did a business of Rs 75 lakh nett at the domestic market on its opening day, Box Office India reported.

Going by its poor collection, it's clear that content is the heart and soul of a film and not even big stars of the industry including Salman Khan, who played a cameo in Welcome To New York, can save it from a disaster at the box office.

Welcome To New York is an out-and-out comedy produced by Pooja Films and Wiz Films and directed by Chakri Toleti. It narrates the story of two Indian youths – played by Sonakshi (Jeenal) and Diljit (Teji) – who are in search of a better life.

On the other hand, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety tells the story of Sonu, played by Kartik, who is in dilemma over his best friend Titu's life (Sunny Singh) and his choices that are taken over by his bride-to-be Sweety (Nushrat).