Arjun Kapoor‘s first release of  2017, Half Girlfriend is off to a flying start at the Box Office. Though it will take the weekend to know if the movie is a hit, the movie looks to follow the footsteps of Arjun Kapoor’s last release, Ki and Ka to be his success of the year, especially since it doesn’t have a Baahubali-like budget. The movie has already collected Rs 10.27 crore at the box office on day 1, easily beating its other competitor, Hindi Medium, which only managed to gross Rs 2.81 crore. This is actually an impressive start, especially since Baahubali 2 is still going strong in the theatres and there was also the IPL semi-final match between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday.

A source close to the movie has revealed, “Half Girlfriend has put up a huge number of Rs 10.27 crore, inspite of Baahubali and IPL who were key deterrents. But the audience has spoken and Half Girlfriend has stood solidly through the day.” It has the sixth highest opening day collections of 2017, behind Baahubali 2, Raees, Jolly LLB, Kaabil and Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya.  In the process, it has also beaten the opening day collections of Aditya Roy Kapur’s Ok Jaanu, Akshay Kumar and Taapsee Pannu’s Naam Shabana, and Shahid Kapoor’s Rangoon. Shivaay had collected Rs 10.24 crore while Rangoon had just collected Rs 4.75 crore at the box office

Shreyans Hirawat of NH Studioz, the company that is distributing the film nationwide adds “We are ecstatic at this opening figure! ‘Half Girlfriend’ has not only managed to stand out with its immense hype and pre-buzz, but also recorded a fantastic opening of 10.27cr, in the face of the Bahubali wave and the IPL match factor. The audiences have spoken and have thronged theatres giving the film a massive initial. Half Girlfriend was the only film that had managed to stand out and has seen solid growth through the first day across centres. With Arjun Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor’s chemistry, Chetan Bhagat’s best seller adaptation, Mohit Suri’s music and Ekta Kapoor’s studio backing, we at NH Studioz are ecstatic at the fantastic opening”.

Let’s see if Half Girlfriend can overcome the barrage of average reviews and have a great weekend ahead.