Hyderabad, Aug. 12 -- The Independence Day box-office battle has begun even before the first show, and Hyderabad appears to have already picked its favourite.

Emraan Hashmi's Awarapan 2 and Sunny Deol's Batwara 1947 are both arriving in cinemas on August 14. While the two films are targeting completely different audiences, their advance-booking numbers reveal a surprisingly one-sided race in the city.

According to the latest figures available on August 12, Awarapan 2 has collected around Rs 11.26 lakh in opening-day advance bookings across 89 tracked shows in Hyderabad. Its real occupancy stands at an impressive 25%, with eight shows almost full and another 21 filling fast.

Batwara 1947, meanwhile, has registered around Rs 87,380 acros...