'Happy New Year' Box Office Collection: Are AP Figures of 'HNY' Fake?

Shahrukh Khan's latest outing "Happy New Year" (HNY) has made fantabulous collection at the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana box offices in its first weekend, but the claims made by its makers on the second day of its release are fake, say experts in Telugu film industry.

On Saturday, the producers of "Happy New Year" claimed the movie has raked in ₹44.97 crore at the Indian box office on its opening day. The Hindi version of the film earned ₹42.62 crore, while Telugu and Tamil versions received ₹1.43 crore and ₹92 lakh respectively, according to Bollywood Hungama.

On Monday, Bollywood trade expert Taran Adarsh tweeted, "#HappyNewYear - Telugu: Fri 1.43 cr, Sat 73 lacs, Sun 76 lacs. Telugu version total: ₹ 2.92 cr. India biz. Source: Red Chillies Ent."

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But trade experts in Tollywood were surprised by the claims made about its collection in AP and Telangana. And some of them could not stop questioning them. 

"#HNY Telugu Didn't even release in 143 Screens leave alone about collecting 143 Lacs Nett on Day1. Big time Faking," tweeted Andhraboxoffice.com on its official Twitter page, slamming claims by "HNY" makers.

The website continued, "Even #Pooja telugu didn't collect 143 lacs nett with 460 screens release & Decent crowd. Whatay epic Faking from Red Chillies & YRF. New low. Bollywood has now successfully & officially taken over from Tollywood & Kollywood in making tall claims & Reporting Fake Collections #HNY."

Produced with a budget of ₹150 crore, the multi-starrer has collected ₹108.86 crore at the domestic box office in the first weekend. The language-wise collection of the film is ₹104.10 crore from Hindi, ₹2.92 crore from Telugu and ₹1.84 crore from Tamil.

Considering its hype and promotions, trade analysts in Film Nagar had predicted that "HNY" would smash the records of "Chennai Express", "Krrish 3" and "Dhoom 3", which had raked in more than ₹3 crore at the AP and Telangana box offices in their opening weekends. However, the film has failed to beat them.

Now, the trade experts opine that "HNY" has made superb collections in the Telugu states in three days, but its low-screen count must be the reason behind the film failing to shatter the previous records of "Chennai Express", "Krrish 3" and "Dhoom 3".