New Delhi, March 23 -- Indian cinema has always loved its milestones. The first Rs.100 crore film. The first Rs.500 crore film. Each one felt impossible until it wasn't. But the Rs.1000 crore mark - in a single language, in a single week - has remained the one frontier that even the biggest blockbusters have stared at and blinked.

Dhurandhar 2 is not blinking.

As of 3 PM on Monday, March 23 - Day 5 of its release - the film has crossed Rs.700 crore worldwide. That is not a weekend number. That is not an extended holiday haul. That is five days of a film eating the box office alive, and it shows no signs of slowing down.

The weekdays, traditionally where Hindi films bleed out, are being watched with unusual calm by the trade. The holds ...