Reliance Entertainment's 'Singham' Hits $22.2 Million Box Office

NEW DELHI - Reliance Entertainment announced Thursday that its action extravaganza Singham crossed $22.2 million (Rupees 1 billion) net in India in its sixth week of release.

Directed by Rohit Shetty and starring top actor Ajay Devgn as a crusading cop, Singham is the seventh Indian film of all time to have crossed the Rupees 1 billion net collections figure which includes past hits such as 2009's comedy 3 Idiots.

Singham's muscular performance has beefed up fortunes for Reliance which last week shattered box office records with its latest release Bodyguard yielding a net $19.7 million (Rupees 889 million) in its first five days of release.

Singham is a remake of hit 2010 South Indian title Singam which was also coproduced by Reliance.

By contrast, last year was sluggish for Reliance which released under-performing titles such as Kites and Raavan.

“Singham is the first mainstream film produced by Reliance Entertainment and we are very pleased with the results,” said Reliance Entertainment CEO Sanjeev Lamba. “A hard-hitting story, the wonderful combination of director Rohit Shetty and star Ajay Devgn and some amazing action sequences have resulted in an extremely successful run for the film.”

With the festive season kicking off in October, India's box office could see more strong performers, especially from superstar Shah Rukh Khan who will bow superhero caper Ra.One followed by action sequel Don 2.