Karan Johar's magnum opus Kalank has finally hit the screens today after teasing the fans with a teaser, trailer and various posters. The film, starring Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Sonakshi Sinha, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Aditya Roy Kapur and Sanjay Dutt in the lead, is directed by Abhishek Varman. Set in the 1940s, the love saga is one of the biggest and most anticipated releases of this year. Though the film has come out on a weekday (Wednesday), it's a partial holiday today because of Mahavir Jayanti and that has certainly worked in the favour of the film at the box office. Kalank Quick Movie Review: Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan's Period Love Story is Beautiful To Look At

As predicted, Kalank has gotten off to a good start and witnessed 40% occupancy during the morning shows. That's not all! As per BollywoodHungama, the film even recorded the highest advance booking collection of 2019, leaving behind films like Kesari and Total Dhamaal.

Further, trade portal Boxofficeindia reported, "The morning occupancy is similar to Gully Boy but that was lopsided with heavy metro collections due to urban youth. The highest opening day of 2019 is Kesari but that film had lower occupancy in the morning as it was Holi but went very strong post the afternoon shows. Kalank has chances to be the highest opening day of the year as it is a holiday for Mahavir Jayanti and evening collections should be strong as the film has more for the overall audience than just for the youth." Box Office Prediction: Will Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt's HIT Jodi Ensure the Biggest Opening For Kalank?

Interestingly, Kalank is the widest release for Varun and Alia as the film is running in 4000 screens across India. Overseas, the magnum opus has released across 1300 screens which again is a big screen number. With two holidays this week - Mahavir Jayanti and Good Friday - its obvious that Varun and Alia starrer will get that extra boost at the box office.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 17, 2019 12:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).