Shruti Haasan kickstarts 2015 with a bang with Gabbar

Her first release Gabbar opposite Akshay Kumar has crossed 13cr on release day making it this year's biggest openers with a weekend collection crossing 40 cr.

With the strong opening that Gabbar has received and with the growing word of mouth from audiences on it being a paisa vasool entertainer, producers of Shruti's next films - Aneez Bazmee's Welcome Back opposite John Abraham, Nishikant Kamat's Rocky Handsome opposite John Abraham and Tigmanshu Dhulia's Yaara opposite Vidyut Jammwal are all happy that their lead actress has received such a great response.

They are looking forward to her pull at the box office for their films as well and are looking at putting additional emphasis on her from a promotions and mounting point of view.

An industry trade source said, "Gabbar was a litmus test for Shruti Haasan who's proved her mettle with numbers as good at 13 cr on day 1. Gabbar has been getting a superb response in the single screens where the film is running packed houses. It sure paves the way for her forthcoming films which combine commercial and content driven cinema. She's got an interesting line up and people have been talking about her as a name to watch out from a numbers point of view, especially given the fact that she is the only actress today who promises a pan India market due to her popularity in the South."