'Salman Khan refuses to believe Bodyguard's success'

Salman Khan is recovering after an eight-hour surgery in Pittsburgh and refuses to believe that his " Bodyguard" has broken box-office records, says his brother-in-law and co-producer Atul Agnihotri. 
 
Salman, who underwent surgery for a nerve problem that was causing exruciating pain in his head, jaws and cheeks, believes his family is just trying to cheer him up by telling him that "Bodyguard" is rocking the box office.

"He is not totally convinced. He is thinking that we are saying this to cheer him up. This is because he is totally cut off from his regular sources. If he had been in Mumbai, he would have had more interaction, seen more TV and read editorials. There he is totally depending on what we are saying," Atul, who co-produced the film with Reliance, told IANS in an interview. "Bodyguard", which released on Eid Wednesday, has surpassed the opening day box-office collection of "Dabangg" (Rs.14.5 crore) and " 3 Idiots" (Rs.13 crore) by garnering Rs.22 crore in the domestic market.

Salman, 45, is expected to be home in 10 days. He is currently under observation, said Atul. ?First, they did some test on him and then he was subjected to the first medical procedure. The surgery went for eight hours. Now he is under three-day observation. I think tomorrow night (Saturday) or day after (Sunday) morning they will review and go for the next step. He will be there for a week or 10 days more," he said.

Atul is riding high on the unprecedented success of the Salman-Kareena Kapoor starrer action-drama, which has received overwhelming response from the audiences despite bad reviews. "We were expecting a good opening but the number has gone beyond our prediction. For us, before the release (of 'Bodyguard'), 'Dabangg' was the benchmark. That we have surpassed, which is a great thing," he said.

The film is scoring high even in south despite being a Hindi remake of Malayalam film of the same name. It was also made in Tamil. "Even in Cochin where people have seen both its Tamil and Malayalam version, the film is doing extremely well. Till yesterday (Thursday) we had two theatres, today (Friday) we have opened up third screen so that?s an indicator of the reaction of the audience in south," said the 41-year-old actor-director-producer.

Atul is expecting the box office collection to touch Rs.85 crore by this weekend. "As 31st was a holiday, we did a business of around Rs 21.57 crore, then yesterday (Thursday) we have touched about Rs.19 crore again. In that sense we have already done around Rs.41 crore and above, across India. Today is a Friday. In three days (including weekends) there is a possibility that we would cross Rs.80 to Rs.85 crore in India," said Atul.