The early release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmaavat did have its advantages. While the controversy around the film did take a little away from its opening day collections, the film still managed to cover Rs18 crore nett according to Boxofficeindia.com. The second day collections seem far more promising as the film managed to take its nett total to Rs32 crore on Friday.
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Bhansali's film has a production budget of close to Rs180 crore, and analysts predicted an opening of Rs26-27 crore on its Thursday release. However, the surrounding controversy and threat of violence ensured that the non-screening of the film in several states worked against it. Despite that, Bhansali's epic managed to touch the Rs18 crore nett mark. Mumbai remained among the highest grossing regions with Rs7 crore collections on the first day.
The second day of the film saw an improvement on its collection, with Boxofficeindia.com predicting its rise to Rs32 crore nett. The collections remain high in centres like Mumbai, which managed Rs11 crore nett on day 2. The increase in collections could be attributed to the national holiday on account of Republic Day.
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However, the Deepika Padukone-Shahid Kapoor-Ranveer Singh-starrer will have to hold steady over the coming weekend. It remains to be seen if it manages to do that despite the surrounding controversy.