Bollywood
Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai Box Office: Day 1 Earns 7.50 Crore; Becomes 5th Highest Opening Of 2026
BY CHRISTA LINCY
Varun Dhawan and director David Dhawan have officially returned to the big screen with their latest romantic comedy, Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai. This release marks a significant moment for the father-son duo, as it is their first theatrical collaboration in nine years. While they worked together on Coolie No. 1 in 2020, that film skipped cinemas for a direct-to-digital release. Therefore, the last time this pair saw a big-screen opening was with Judwaa 2 back in 2017, making the expectations for this film quite high. On its opening day, Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai collected 7.50 crore net in India across 9,081 shows. While this is a decent start for a rom-com, the numbers suggest a mixed response when compared to Varun Dhawan's recent theatrical track record. The opening is slightly lower than his post-pandemic actioner Baby John, which started with 11.25 crore, and his previous solo lead film Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari, which opened at 9.25 crore. Looking at his other post-COVID releases, the film has performed on par with Bhediya (7.48 crore) but stayed below the opening of JugJugg Jeeyo (9.28 crore). (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}) The film's performance in national chains provides a clearer picture of the urban audience's interest. In the PIC (PVR, INOX, and Cinepolis) networks, the movie sold approximately 39,600 tickets on Day 1, resulting in a gross collection of 1.27 crore. PVR led the pack with nearly 21,000 tickets, followed by INOX with 12,700 and Cinepolis with 5,900. On BookMyShow, the film saw strong momentum with over 115,000 tickets sold in the last 24 hours alone, taking its total ticket sales on the platform to over 173,000. In terms of occupancy, the film saw its best footfalls in Mumbai and Bengaluru, both recording an overall occupancy of 23 percent. The National Capital Region (NCR) saw 15 percent occupancy across its 1,054 shows, while Lucknow followed closely with 21 percent. Other major markets like Pune and Ahmedabad stayed in the range of 16 to 19 percent. These numbers reflect a steady but not overwhelming start, indicating that the film will rely heavily on weekend growth and family audiences to pick up the pace. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}) Globally, the film has reached a worldwide gross of 11.00 crore. This includes an India gross of 9.00 crore and an overseas gross of 2.00 crore. Despite the tough competition in 2026, the film has managed to secure a spot in the top five opening days of the year so far. Here is how the leaderboard looks: Top 5 Hindi Film Openings of 2026 - Hindi NetMOVIE NAMEDAY 1 NET COLLECTIONDhurandhar 2: The Revenge₹ 99.10 CrBorder 2₹ 30.00 CrBhooth Bangla₹ 12.25 CrO Romeo₹ 8.50 CrHai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai₹ 7.50 Cr In terms of ranking among Varun Dhawan's theatrical releases in the post-pandemic era, Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai stands as his fourth-best opening. It slots in behind Baby John, JugJugg Jeeyo, and Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari, while just edging out the opening day figures of Bhediya. To improve its commercial standing for the year, the film will now need to demonstrate a strong growth trend over the Saturday and Sunday period.