The festival of Holi brought colours of joy and box office success for Bollywood star John Abraham! The actor, highly loved for his action movies, made it to the theatres this Friday with ‘The Diplomat,’ a thriller based on true events. This Shoojit Sircar directorial chronicles the ordeal of an Indian girl Uzma Ahmed, played by Sadia Khateeb, who gets trapped in Pakistan after being deceived into marriage. John Abraham essays the role of J.P. Singh, the Indian diplomat who plays a crucial part in her rescue. Early predictions regarding the box office collection of the movie hinted at a slow start but ‘The Diplomat’ proved them wrong and had a decent opening at the box office.

According to the Sacnilk report, the movie opened with Rs.4 crore on March 14, 2025. The festival of Holi may have helped it have a solid start at the box office. With the weekend ahead, the movie is expected to see substantial growth.

Also, it is worth noting that ‘The Diplomat’ made a decent opening despite facing a challenge from Vicky Kaushal’s ‘Chhaava.’ This Laxman Utekar movie has been reigning at the box office since day 1, and now after a month, it made Rs 7.25 Crore on the fifth Friday of release (March 14). Considering these numbers, it would not be wrong to say that ‘The Diplomat’ has come up as a solid second choice for cinephiles.

Further, if we look at the occupancy rate, on March 14, ‘The Diplomat’ recorded a footfall of 20.45%. The morning shows saw an occupancy of 7.31%, which rose to 19.42% in the afternoon. The percentage further increased, with the evening show witnessing an occupancy rate of 28.50%. It went slightly down in the night shows, with 26.56% occupancy.

The maximum occupancy was seen in Chennai - 75.33%. The second best was seen in Bhopal with 29.50%, and Kolkata with 29% followed closely behind.