Salman Khan’s big Eid release, ‘Dabangg’ has set cash registers ringing. The film smashed box office records by collecting a whopping Rs 14 crore on its opening day, even exceeding good friend Aamir Khan’s 2009 blockbuster ‘3 Idiots’ Rs 13 crore-mark. Salman’s cop act has in fact overtaken the opening day collections of Bollywood’s top five films, going ahead of Prakash Jha’s ‘Raajneeti’ and Akshay Kumkar’s ‘Housefull’, as well as Amir Khan’s 2008 super hit ‘Ghajini’.

With single screens and multiplexes across the country already recording house full occupancies in the coming week, trade pundits are confident that ‘Dabangg’ will surpass 3 Idiots historic run at the box office. The movie starring Salman as a corrupt cop Chulbul “Robinhood’ Pandey, reportedly opened to 97 per cent occupancy across single screens in India.

The film, which also marks the debut of veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha’s daughter Sonakshi, opened in 1300 screens across India, including 250 prints in Delhi-NCR itself. The film, dubbed a ‘masala entertainer’ in reviews, had created a hype, thanks to Salman’s new moustached look, and the hit item number ‘Munni Badnaam’. ‘Dabangg’ which also stars Sonu Sood, Vinod Khanna and Dimple Kapadia, was made with a budget of Rs 18 crores and was reportedly sold to distributors for Rs 40 crores.