Hrithik's superhero act in Rakesh Roshan's 'Krrish', which has the Bollywood heartthrob performing breathtaking action sequences akin to the 'Superman', 'Batman' and the 'Spiderman', has taken the whole of India and the world by storm.
The film is seen as a tough competition to this year's Hollywood release 'Superman Returns', trade sources said.
The film, which presents Hrithik as the first superhero of Indian cinema, has broken box office records at home and abroad in its opening week with cinema halls screening the film witnessing an unprecedented rush among cinegoers to see India's first superhero in action.
Trade analysts say the breathtaking stunts done by Hrithik in the film had endeared him to kids all over the country who have been flocking to the theatres with their parents in huge numbers, which made it almost a foregone conclusion that 'Krrish' was on its way to become a blockbuster.
With his well built physique and bulging biceps, Hrithik almost looks like a Greek god who performs stunts never before executed on Indian screen. No wonder, kids all over India have simply adored 'Krrish', a fact that could make the film a bigger blockbuster than 'Fanaa' and provide stiff competition to 'Superman Returns' this week.
'Krrish's screenings during the opening weekend were marked by house full boards almost all over the country with hundreds of cinegoers seen clamouring for tickets outside the cinema halls.
The black marketers had a field day with the tickets being sold at four to five times their original price.
Even in areas like Punjab and Central India which had not witnessed house full boards in a long time, there was unprecedented rush for the cinema tickets.
In many areas in India, the film had to be screened at additional screens in almost all the multiplexes on the first day when the cinegoers who did not get tickets refused to go home without watching the movie.
A "never-before seen" rush on advance booking was witnessed in many parts of the country wherein tickets for almost the entire opening week were sold out in advance with the many shows in its second week too booked already, the sources said.
For example, in Delite cinema in Delhi, 'Krrish' broke advance booking records of the last 50 years, the sources said.
Similarly, there was a huge clamour for tickets at the multiplexes in metros like Mumbai and Delhi despite the fact that many of them were screening 12 shows of 'Krrish' everyday.
In South India too, where the producers have released the dubbed version of the film in Tamil and Telugu, making 'Krrish' the first Hindi film in recent times to have been dubbed in Tamil and Telugu', the film has evoked an above-average response, trade sources said.