Border 2 has kicked off with a staggering Rs 30 crore opening, securing its place as the second-best January launch in Bollywood history, just behind the phenomenal Pathaan. While the audience sentiment differs from SRK’s triumphant return, the success of Sunny Deol’s war drama is clearly a result of robust pre-release excitement and widespread appeal.

Despite intense pre-release scrutiny and sky-high comparisons to legacy franchises, Border 2 has managed to carve out a major box office milestone for itself. With an estimated Rs 30 crore opening on Day 1, the Sunny Deol-led war drama has now registered the second biggest January opening in Bollywood history, placing itself directly behind Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan, which had smashed all previous January records with a staggering Rs 57 crore Day 1 of which Rs 55 crore came from its Hindi version.January has usually been a very dry month for Bollywood but there have been few films in the recent past that have light up the box office and now Border 2 has been added to the list. In the past there have been films like Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Shahid Kapoor’s Padmavaat which had collected Rs 19 crore on its opening day and then went on to make a place for itself in the Rs 300 crore club. Other big January release was Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone and Anil Kapoor’s Fighter which had earned Rs 22.5 crore on its opening day and made a place for itself in Rs 200 crore club.

Pathaan benefitted from a unique constellation of factors. It was part of Aditya Chopra‘s Spy Universe, Shah Rukh Khan’s comeback film, arriving after a five-year hiatus from leading roles and it was going to bring hi back with Salman Khan who was making a cameo appearance as Tiger in the film. The film dropped at the peak of the Republic Day frame, amid massive audience curiosity, fan-driven cultural conversation, and pent-up demand for a big-screen SRK event. The Day 1 numbers were historic, instantly re-establishing SRK as a dominant theatrical force and fundamentally altering the January box office playbook.Border 2, by contrast, has operated in a different sentiment cycle. While Sunny Deol is coming off the blockbuster momentum of Gadar 2, Border 2 is not a comeback film but rather a continuation of an established war brand. Its opening has been powered by a more traditional blend of pre-release buzz, single-screen strength, and mass belt turnout rather than a fandom resurgence moment. Yet, hitting Rs 30 crore on Day 1 is no small feat given how Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar is still running in the halls. It would be interesting to see how the film fares from hereon.The film is directed by Anurag Singh and also features Varun Dhawan, Diljit Dosanjh, Ahan Shetty, Mona Singh, Sonam Bajwa, Anya Singh and Medha Rana.