The first battle of this Friday's much-anticipated box office battle appears to have been won… by Sunny Deol's Gadar 2. The sequel to Gadar: Ek Prem Katha has outsold Akshay Kumar's OMG 2 in advance bookings and by a huge margin. As of Wednesday evening, over 1.8 lakh tickets had been sold for the first day shows of Gadar 2, reports trade analyst Taran Adarsh. OMG 2's sales for Day 1 are just short of 25,000. It should be noted that the OMG 2 numbers are only from national chains like PVR, INOX and Cinepolis; however, these are much lower compared to Gadar 2's sales at the same chains.
See Taran Adarsh's tweets reporting the numbers here:
Gadar 2's advance bookings are comparable to those of Brahmastra and Pathaan, reports Box Office India which also describes the film as a "juggernaut."
Gadar 2, directed by Anil Sharma, is a sequel to the original 2001 film starring Sunny Deol as Tara Singh and Ameesha Patel as Sakeena. Both actors reprise their roles with Utkarsh Sharma cast as their adult son. Gadar: Ek Prem Katha released on the same day as Aamir Khan's Lagaan back in 2001 – 20 years later, its sequel also faces a box office clash with another big star.
Akshay Kumar's OMG 2 is also a sequel but in spirit. The film, co-starring Pankaj Tripathi and Yami Gautam, has been certified A and is releasing with 27 changes made after it was sent to the Censor Board's Revision Committee. Among the changes is one to Akshay's character – he now plays Lord Shiva's messenger instead of the deity himself.