India, Aug. 13 -- The Bollywood box office is kind of bracing for this big high-stakes cinematic standoff on August 14, where Sunny Deol's mass entertainer Batwara 1947 goes head to head with Emraan Hashmi's much-awaited sequel Awarapan 2 right before the Independence Day holiday. Folks from the industry are watching the early trends really closely, and the signals are leaning in favor of the Emraan Hashmi starrer due to this huge wave of fan nostalgia from the cult classic 2007 film. At the same time, Sunny Deol's whole project seems to lean on his long-lasting, massive pull with family audiences and single-screen viewers all over India.

Awarapan 2 Leads Advance Booking With 81% Edge Over Batwara 1947

Digging a bit deeper into the pre-...