Sushant Singh Rajput is not here with us today but it seems like the actor has paid himself a tribute through his last film Dil Bechara. Released on Disney+ Hotstar, the film registered record-breaking numbers.

According to the latest development, an independent tracking firm has suggested that the film was watched by 95 million viewers in the first 24 hours of its release.

Advertisement

According to a Mid-Day report, a representative for the firm, Ormax Media, believes the numbers are comparable to viewership figures of the massively popular HBO series Game of Thrones, although he didn’t provide any further data. “If one wants to, comparisons could be drawn [between the viewership] of Dil Bechara, and that of [the much-acclaimed series] Game of Thrones, and this was possible even though the latter had a pre-existing viewer-base, while the film [did not]. Then again, Hotstar promoted Dil Bechara from the onset, marketing its release date and time well in advance. Viewers showed up in unison to watch it.”

Being the last film of Sushant, his fans demanded to release the film in theatres. However, the film gets released on Disney+ Hotstar. His fans protested, but turned up on the streaming platform nonetheless. The film was made available for free to both subscribers and non-subscribers.

According to a report, average ticket price across PVR Cinemas theatres in India in 2019 was Rs 207, which pushes the estimated box office earnings of Dil Bechara to around Rs 2000 crore.

Meanwhile, film critic and trade analyst Taran Adarsh told Mid-Day that the film would’ve done exceedingly well in theatres, too. “I would have preferred watching it on the big screen. It is beautiful, especially its ending. A good film will always find appreciation; [as it did with] films like Anand [1971], and Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se [1978], which also had similar emotional content,” he said.

Dil Bechara stars Sushant and Sanjana Sanghi in lead roles. The film marks the directorial debut of casting director Mukesh Chhabra. The film is all about celebrating a love saga of two star-crossed lovers.