Akshay Kumar and Parineeti Chopra starrer 'Kesari' hit the theatres on Holi yesterday, and the first 24-hours have brought in loads of good news for the actors and makers of the film. 

The Holi release turned out to be a huge plus for Akshay Kumar as viewership saw a steep rise as the day flourished, making 'Kesari' the highest opener of 2019 thus far, leaving behind 'Gully Boy' and 'Total Dhamaal' by a good margin.

© Dharma Productions

While Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt starring blockbuster 'Gully Boy' acquired an opening day box office collection of Rs. 19.40 crores and Ajay Devgn multistarrer 'Total Dhamaal' bagged Rs. 16.50 crore on its opening day, 'Kesari' collected Rs. 21.50 crore on the very first day of its screening, thereby making it the highest and most successful Bollywood opener of 2019 so far.

© Instagram

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh took to Twitter earlier to spell it all out for avid movie-goers ahead of the weekend that's teasing everyone's senses today.

Top *Opening Day* biz - 2019...
1. #Kesari â¹ 21.50 cr [Thu]
2. #GullyBoy â¹ 19.40 cr [Thu]
3. #TotalDhamaal â¹ 16.50 cr
4. #CaptainMarvel â¹ 13.01 cr
Note: â¹ 10 cr+ openers.
India biz.#Kesari is Akshay Kumar's second biggest opener, after #Gold [â¹ 25.25 cr; #IndependenceDay].

'Kesari' traces the lives and times of the 21 Sikh soldiers of the 36th Sikh Regiment of the British Army, who despite being outnumbered, fought against the Afghan intruders in the 1890s until their last breath. History stands witness to the ultimate show of daredevilry and sacrifice shown by 21 Sikh soldiers of the British Indian Army, who took up arms against 10,000 Afghan Orakzai tribesmen, in order to perform their duty.

© Dharma Productions

Critics and movie-goers have praised the movie and how Akshay Kumar has yet again managed to deliver a great movie, retelling a historical event that most history books had given a miss.

Now, while 2018 turned out to be a highly successful and satisfactory year for Akshay with all three of his releases, 'Padman', 'Gold' and '2.0' performing really well at the box office, 2019 is also looking very promising for him with almost five other films scheduled for release. However, for now, it is 'Kesari' that has been garnering all the interest and rightly so.