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India Box Office: Ticket Prices Surge As SRK Fans Rush To Reserve Seats For 'Fan'

This article is more than 7 years old.

Four days ahead of its global release, Shah Rukh Khan's dramatic thriller Fan is being hailed as the biggest advance ticket seller of 2016.

And that's to be expected, as Khan, ranked #1 on the Forbes Indian Celebrity list, has seen his last three films in a row each gross at least 3.85 billion rupees ($55 million) at theaters worldwide. Only his foe-turned-friend Salman Khan rivals him in power as a Bollywood box office draw.

Image Credit: Yash Raj Films

If SRK is looking to extend his impressive streak, the massive pre-sales for Fan have put him well on his way. Advance bookings opened on Sunday, and within a day opening weekend seats at numerous theaters across the country were sold out.

Ticket sellers have taken advantage of the rush by hiking admission prices, as they often do in India ahead of a major blockbuster. Tickets in Delhi and the surrounding National Capital Region have been going for as much as 2,200 rupees (US$35), a ten-fold and higher boost over normal face values. In Mumbai and Bangalore prices have hit 1,000 rupees ($16) for many evening screenings, according to online ticket seller Bookmyshow.com.

Screenings from morning to night have also been filling up in Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata and other major cities. Only Chennai has so far failed to report similarly brisk business, presumably because local box office star Vijay's film Theri will open there this weekend.

Fan features the 50 year-old Shah Rukh Khan in dual roles, playing both a movie idol and a 24 year-old fan who is dangerously obsessed with the star. The filmmakers hired Greg Cannom, who did the prosthetics for Brad Pitt in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, to handle the tricky makeup dutiesthey also employed digital visual effects to help Khan create a convincing look for the younger role, and to enable scenes where both of Khan's characters appear together on screen.

Fan marks the ninth collaboration between Khan and legendary Bollywood filmmaker Yash Chopra and his Yash Raj Films. Their mutually lucrative relationship dates back to 1993, when Khan starred as an obsessive lover in the romantic psychological thriller Darr: A Violent Love Story. 

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