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The Independence Day box office clash between Emraan Hashmi’s Awarapan 2 and Sunny Deol’s Batwara 1947 has started with a clear advantage for Hashmi’s film. Both movies released on August 14, but Awarapan 2 has witnessed stronger audience interest in morning shows, driven largely by nostalgia for the 2007 cult classic.
Awarapan 2 has crossed Rs 11 crore in advance bookings, while Batwara 1947 has recorded around Rs 4 crore. This gives Hashmi’s sequel an early lead of more than Rs 7 crore even before the first-day collections are fully counted.
The opening morning trend has also favoured Awarapan 2. The film recorded around 25 per cent occupancy, compared with roughly 5 per cent for Batwara 1947. With the Independence Day holiday expected to boost footfalls, Awarapan 2 has entered the weekend with a significant head start.
Awarapan 2 crosses Rs 11 crore in advance bookings
Awarapan 2 recorded approximately Rs 11.36 crore in opening-day advance bookings, including blocked seats. Ticket sales gained considerable momentum during the final 24 hours before release, with the film selling Rs 8.57 crore worth of tickets across 285,802 seats, excluding blocked bookings.
The film sold around 289.71K tickets on BookMyShow. Its daily sales increased from 7.02K tickets on August 10 to 35.98K on August 11 and 65.11K on August 12, before surging to 181.6K tickets on August 13 alone.
With nearly 290K tickets sold, Awarapan 2 ranks among Bollywood’s strongest pre-sales of 2026. Dhurandhar 2 leads with 2.41 million tickets, followed by Border 2 with 404K. Awarapan 2 occupies the third position.
The film has also surpassed the pre-sales of Salman Khan’s Sikandar, which recorded around 281K tickets, and Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar, which sold approximately 224K tickets.
Trade estimates suggest that Awarapan 2 could target an opening-day collection of around Rs 20 crore net, although the final number will depend heavily on evening and night show occupancy.
Why Awarapan 2 is attracting audiences
Nostalgia for the original Awarapan remains one of the biggest factors working in favour of its sequel. Released in 2007, the first film did not perform strongly at the box office but gradually developed a cult following.
Emraan Hashmi’s portrayal of Shivam, the emotional storyline and the film’s memorable music helped Awarapan gain a dedicated audience over the years. The movie is now regarded as one of Hashmi’s most memorable performances.
Almost two decades later, Awarapan 2 brings Hashmi back as Shivam, with Disha Patani appearing as his co-star. The film has also generated interest among Indian cinephiles, similar to the audience reactions seen around major upcoming movie releases such as Ramayana Looks Better: Avengers: Doomsday Trailer.
Batwara 1947 records a slower opening
Batwara 1947, meanwhile, has started its theatrical run with advance bookings of approximately Rs 4 crore, considerably below Awarapan 2. Its morning occupancy of around 5 per cent further highlights the difference in initial audience response.
Directed by Rajkumar Santoshi and produced by Aamir Khan, Batwara 1947 features Sunny Deol, Preity Zinta, Shabana Azmi, Ali Fazal and Karan Deol. Set against the backdrop of the Partition of India, the film follows Sikander Mirza, played by Deol, and his family after their migration to Lahore.
The story is inspired by Asghar Wajahat’s acclaimed play Jis Lahore Nai Vekhya, O Jamya E Nai. It explores displacement, communal tensions and the human cost of Partition through the story of a Muslim family that moves into a Lahore home abandoned by its Hindu owners, only to discover that an elderly Hindu woman continues to live there.
The film also reunites Sunny Deol and Rajkumar Santoshi, who have previously worked together on films such as Ghayal and Damini.
For Deol, Batwara 1947 follows the massive success of Gadar 2, which revived his theatrical popularity in 2023, and the strong performance of Border 2 earlier this year.
While Awarapan 2 currently holds a comfortable lead in advance bookings and morning occupancy, the box office clash is still in its early stages. The August 15 Independence Day holiday could give both films a significant boost, potentially changing the gap as the weekend progresses.
