Sikandar opened to a decent response with its Sunday release but decent is not what is expected from a Salman Khan Eid release. The opening day may well be on a odd day with Sunday and its Pre Eid but still it should be a better response. Having said its not a huge surprise as the music and units of the film were not upto the mark so in todays time there are limitations as to where starpower alone can take you.

The advances opened well enough but the momentum was not there over the last two days going into the release. Also the film does not have that out performance in those Hindi speaking circuits which a film in this zone should have though this could be due to the film coming prior to Eid and it maybe Monday the ratios get better here.

The way the film has opened the 30 crore nett mark which would have been a good number for the first day looks an ask though with Monday being a big holiday collections in the evening can push the film but it will have to be a very strong push to get the film to 30 crore nett. The film has an open field with no competition whatsoever from new or holdover releases.

The Malayalam film Empuraan which could have been a bit of been an irritation if it picked up (with lacklustre units Sikandar cannot afford to have any irritation however small) has not done well outside of Kerala which hardly matters so its out of the equation leaving Sikandar as the lone film out there in all key circuits.

Its not the Eid the industry would have liked to have but all is not lost as its not as bad as the last year when Bade Miyan Chote Miyan / Maidaan came or the year before when Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan came with the former being dead on release and the latter being almost dead. The pressure on these big festival films is huge as now numbers have gone to 60 crore nett plus for day one but that can only happen if the trailer works across the board in the big way which is not the case here.

Basically the middling initial for one of the major release of the year is not good news after a lacklustre first quarter but with Salman Khan lacking energy in the trailers and looking very disinterested which easily shows on screen it could have been a lot worse as has been seen with many film sover the last few years. The film has an issue with piracy as the film got leaked but the holiday Eid crowd that wants to watch it on the big screen will still come.