Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan desperately needed a big hit and if 'Chennai Express' had failed to score at the box office, his reign would have been declared over by Bollywood pundits and the Indian media. The steady rise of Ranbir Kapoor as the next superstar of Bollywood and his rival Salman Khan's movies scoring big at the box office, every time were making Shah Rukh Khan, 47, look like an actor past his prime. The success of 'Chennai Express' has once again proved that SRK is the King of Bollywood and when it comes to overseas market, no Bollywood actor can beat him.

Update: 'Chennai Express' creates History collects more than 100 crore in its opening weekend

Directed by Rohit Shetty, 'Chennai Express' had a record opening in UAE, U.K., Singapore and Australia, USA, Canada. Koimoi.com reports that the movie did a superb business of 21 crore (INR) at the overseas box office in two days. Taran Adarsh, trade analyst, tweeted that the movie collected an unprecedented $ 450,000 on Thursday in UAE and Gulf Circuit and that the movie was estimated to cross $ 550,000, which is the highest ever opening for a Bollywood movie. 'Chennai Express' also took a studependous start in USA-Canada. According to Taran Adarsh's Tweet for USA-Canada, "Thursday night preview shows: $ 260,000. Final numbers yet to come in. Awesome!"

'Chennai Express' has collected a record-setting £ 258,598 on Friday in the U.K., which is the "HIGHEST opening day for a Hindi movie!," according to Taran Adarsh. Koimoi.com reports that "the film is faring extremely well in most circuits abroad with the U.K circuit witnessing a never seen before frenzy." On Friday in UAE-GCC, Chennai Express made a collection of Fri $ 575,000. According to Taran Adarsh, the final total collection for Friday is "estimated to be above $ 600,000. SUPERB."

The Thursday previews in Australia collected A$ 38,315, New Zealand NZ$ 8,058, while U.K.'s Thursday night previews made a collection of £ 142,220, which according to Taran Adarsh, is the biggest ever collection for a Bollywood movie in the U.K. He also tweeted that 'Chennai Express' has collected an excellent $ 95,359 on Thursday in Singapore. The estimated first day total collection was expected to be much more than that, the highest first day collection for a Bollywood movie in Singapore.

At the Indian box office, 'Chennai Express' has annihilated all records, includinhg that of Salman Khan's starrer 'Ek Tha Tiger'. The roaring box-office success of 'Chennai Express', released on Eid Day, August 09, is expected to give Shah Rukh Khan' tottery superstar status a new lease of life. The movie is all set to do a phenomenal business of 100 crore at the Indian box office in its opening weekend, which is a record for any Bollywood movie.

Taran Adarsh, trade analyst, tweeted that 'Chennai Express' was super-strong at both multiplexes and single screens on Friday, including urban centres and towns. "The response is phenomenal," he said in his tweet. At the Indian Box Office, the movie collected a record breaking Rs 33.12 cr (INR) on Friday and on Saturday, it collected 28.05 crore (INR).

"With 67.92 cr till Sat, #ChennaiExpress needs to collect 32.08 cr on Sun to touch the magical 100 cr mark. SRK fans have reasons to rejoice!," Taran Adarsh tweeted.

At most of the single-screen theatres, one could see the houseful board and multiplexes had almost houseful occupancy. It is a long festival weekend in India and it is expected that 'Chennai Express' will break Indian as well as overseas box office records, including that of Aamir Khan's movie 3 Idiots. The stupendous success of 'Chennai Express' will also establish its female protagonist, Deepika Padukone, as the new Box Office Queen of Bollywood. It will be her third blockbuster hit of 2013 after 'Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani' and 'Race 2'.

On India TV's show 'Aap Ki Adalat', Shah Rukh Khan talked about his relationship with his former-close-friend Salman Khan. He said that the relationship between them has now "gone beyond one-upmanship."

"There is no question of bowing or making him bow now. It may have been the case two-three years ago. Whether he should speak first or I should... we have become more mature now," the popular actor said, as quoted by news agency PTI in its report.

On whether he would invite Salman Khan to watch his movie 'Chennai Express', Shah Rukh Khan said, "Even I am not watching 'Chennai Express' this Eid as I am celebrating the festival... but actually most certainly, if there is an Eid function at my house or they have a function in their house, then invitations will go from both sides. It will happen someday. We will be more mature, either he will come or I will go to his house. everything would be fine."

Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan had an unscripted hug and formal handshake moment on July 21, 2013 at the 'Iftaar' party hosted by a Congress leader. The first such moment after they had a falling-out at a party hosted by Salman Khan to celebrate Katrina Kaif's birthday, in 2008.

Since then, Shah Rukh Khan has spoken about the hug on quite a number of occasions, but Salman has maintained his stoic silence, giving no indication that it is back to good, old days.

Salman Khan, in the past, has snubbed all attempts of reconciliation, initiated by Shah Rukh Khan. He had once famously said, "SRK and I can never be friends."