'Raid' emerges as 2nd highest opening weekend grosser of 2018

'Raid' only came second to Sanjay Leela Bhansali's directorial, 'Padmaavat' (Rs 1.14 billion)

Ajay Devgn starrer, 'Raid' has emerged as the second highest opening weekend grosser of 2018, till now.

While the period film saw a mediocre start on the opening day, it soon witnessed a solid growth on the following weekend - all because of the strong word of mouth after the audience gave thumbs up to the drama flick.

Taran Adarsh, an Indian film critic and trade analyst, confirmed the weekend business of the film and tweeted, "#Raid gets a THUMBS UP from audiences... Witnesses SOLID GROWTH on Sat + Sun... Strong word of mouth helps multiply numbers, after a mediocre start on Fri morning... Emerges SECOND HIGHEST WEEKEND of 2018... Fri 10.04 cr, Sat 13.86 cr, Sun 17.11 cr. Total: ? 41.01 cr. India biz."

It emerged that 'Raid' beat the business of 'Padman' (Rs 400.5 million), 'Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety' (Rs 265.7 million), and 'Pari' (Rs 153.4 million) with its Rs 410.1 million earning. It only came second to Sanjay Leela Bhansali's directorial, 'Padmaavat' (Rs 1.14 billion).

In another tweet, Adarsh gave the numbers and wrote, "TOP 5 - 2018 Opening Weekend biz...1. #Padmavaat ? Rs 1.14 billion [extended weekend; select previews on Wed, released on Thu]... Note: Hindi + Tamil + Telugu. 2. #Raid ? Rs 410.1 million 3. #PadMan ? Rs 400.5 million 4. #SonuKeTituKiSweety #SKTKS ? Rs 265.7 million 5. #Pari ? Rs 153.4 million (India biz)".

The period drama is directed by Raj Kumar Gupta of 'Aamir' and 'No One Killed Jessica' fame and also stars Ileana D'Cruz and Saurabh Shukla in pivotal roles.

Set in the early 1980s with Lucknow as the background, the film revolves around a true incident of the longest raid in history.

The movie released in theatres on March 16, 2018 worldwide.