Salman Khan will remember 2012 forever!

The year has given him hits that he and Bollywood will probably envy each time a film releases. In 2012, Salman the Tiger was pitted against Salman the Chulbul. The Khan had to smash his own record to prove that he is the best in the Hindi movie industry as far as this year is concerned.

Dabangg 2 now stands first in terms of its gross earnings of Rs 14,21,800 on the day of release in Patna compared to his Ek Tha Tiger that collected Rs 12,37,500 on Independence Day.

However, Ek Tha Tiger could only get 20 shows on the day of release compared to 27 for Dabangg 2. Of the 27, the lone multiplex, Cinepolis, had 17 shows, whereas Regent and Mona had five each.

The Chulbul actor should thank his fans from this eastern city who braved the chill and the fog to get the seats on the first day. Those who were not able to book tickets in advance did not even mind shelling out more money to get tickets in “black”.

On entering the theatres, Salman’s fans just went bonkers. They cheered, clapped, whistled and shouted at every dialogue of Salman-the-cop and Sonakshi Sinha. The Bihar girl plays the wife of Salman in the sequel.

Commerce College student Rohit Singh had watched the first shows of Ek Tha Tiger and Dabangg 2. According to him, the corrupt-yet-good cop is far better than the loveable Tiger.

“Ek Tha Tiger was better but Dabangg 2 is the best. I have never seen such an entertaining film. The song Fulori bina chatni kaise bani added the Bihar spice to the film,” said Singh.

If some were floored by the fights and the dialogue-baazi, some loved the hero dancing with his heroine.

Buddha Colony resident Rekha Agarwal said: “I loved Chulbul’s unique dance style and the witty smile on his face. Though Ek Tha Tiger was an excellent film, I found the Dabangg sequel a full paisa wasool. Kareena’s Faavicol was the perfect spice to a very well-made film. Arbaaz (Khan), Vinod Khanna, Prakash Raj, too were excellent.”

Breaking the Tiger’s record has not come as a surprise to the theatre owners.

Regent owner Suman Kumar Sinha said: “I knew Dabangg 2 would break all records. Even Jab Tak Hai Jaan could not bring in good business. The year 2012 is Salman’s. I think only he can break box office records one after the other. Look at the audience. Only a Salman Khan film can create such excitement.”

Cinepolis manager Abhishek Ranjan agreed that Dabangg 2 has the potential to be the “money churner of the year”.“During the advance bookings, I had understood that the film would cross the Rs 200-crore mark. Realising the hype of the film, we had to cut down on the shows of other films to increase the shows of Dabangg 2,” he added.

What more could an actor want as the year draws to an end.