Drishyam 3 Records Ajay Devgn’s Biggest Opening With Rs 95 Crore Worldwide Debut

NEW DELHI, Oct 3: Ajay Devgn’s return as Vijay Salgaonkar has delivered a major opening at the box office, with Drishyam 3: The Conclusion registering the biggest first day performance of his career after releasing in cinemas on October 2.

The third and final instalment of the Hindi Drishyam franchise opened during the Gandhi Jayanti holiday and recorded strong audience turnout across the country. According to trade figures reported on October 3, the film earned around Rs 66.75 crore net in India on its opening day. Its domestic gross stood at approximately Rs 80.10 crore, while overseas markets contributed another Rs 15 crore, taking the reported worldwide gross to about Rs 95.10 crore.

The opening marks a significant jump from the earlier films in the franchise. Drishyam, released in 2015, began its theatrical run with around Rs 5.85 crore net in India, while Drishyam 2, which arrived in 2022, opened at approximately Rs 15.38 crore. The latest chapter has therefore recorded a substantially larger first-day response than both previous films.

The performance also gives Devgn his biggest opening day to date. His previous major opening record was held by Singham Again, which had started with around Rs 43.5 crore according to reported domestic figures. The strong debut of Drishyam 3 places the thriller among the notable Hindi releases of 2026 in terms of opening-day business.

The film’s release had been preceded by considerable anticipation, particularly because it was promoted as the concluding chapter of Vijay Salgaonkar’s story. Advance sales had already indicated strong interest before the first public shows began. According to Sacnilk data reported by NDTV Profit, the movie had generated Rs 31.65 crore in gross advance bookings for its opening day, including blocked seats.

By the time of release, advance sales had grown further. Sacnilk’s booking data showed Rs 31.65 crore in gross advance sales for October 2, with 8.82 lakh tickets booked across more than 16,000 shows. The same data showed substantial bookings for the following weekend, indicating continued interest beyond the opening day.

The theatrical response was also reflected in occupancy figures throughout Friday. The film began with comparatively lower attendance during morning screenings, but footfall increased as the day progressed. Reported occupancy stood at 46.38 per cent in morning shows, climbed to 70.15 per cent in the afternoon and reached 75.31 per cent during evening screenings. Night shows recorded 76.46 per cent occupancy. The overall reported occupancy for the day was 67.08 per cent.

The film brings together several familiar faces from the earlier instalments while introducing new characters into the central conflict. Alongside Devgn, the cast includes Tabu, Shriya Saran, Ishita Dutta and Mrunal Jadhav, while Jaideep Ahlawat, Prakash Raj and Rajat Kapoor also feature in important roles.

A major addition to the franchise is Jaideep Ahlawat, who plays police officer Rajveer Singh Tomar. His character brings a new investigative challenge for Vijay Salgaonkar and adds another layer to the cat-and-mouse dynamic that has been central to the series.

The return of Tabu as Meera Deshmukh also reconnects the new film with the emotional and investigative threads established in the previous chapters. The relationship between Vijay and the police has remained one of the franchise’s defining elements, with each film building its tension around the consequences of the original crime.

Drishyam 3 is written and directed by Abhishek Pathak. The movie continues the story established in the first two films, which followed Vijay, an ordinary family man who became increasingly entangled in a criminal investigation and relied on careful planning to protect his family.

The franchise has developed a loyal audience since the release of the first film in 2015. The sequel strengthened that following when it arrived seven years later and went on to earn substantially more at the global box office than its predecessor. According to reported figures, Drishyam 2 eventually collected around Rs 342 crore worldwide.

The latest film’s opening therefore represents not only a strong start for the new release but also the culmination of a decade-long theatrical journey for the Hindi adaptation. The scale of the first-day response suggests that audiences turned out in significant numbers to see how Vijay Salgaonkar’s story would conclude.

The film’s performance will now be closely watched over the weekend, particularly as Saturday and Sunday provide the first opportunity to measure whether the opening-day momentum can translate into sustained theatrical business.

With the Gandhi Jayanti holiday providing a favourable launch date and strong advance sales already recorded, the second and third days are expected to provide important indications about the film’s wider box-office trajectory.

For Devgn, the opening represents another significant milestone in a career spanning more than three decades. For the Drishyam franchise, it marks the theatrical arrival of the story’s final Hindi chapter and gives audiences the opportunity to revisit one of Bollywood’s most recognisable family-crime thrillers.