The social drama, directed by Shree Narayan Singh, earned Rs6.25 crore nett, while Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer Manto collected a mere Rs45 lakh its opening day.
Box office: Average opening for Shahid Kapoor's Batti Gul Meter Chalu
Mumbai - 22 Sep 2018 18:00 IST
Mayur Lookhar
Shahid Kapoor-starrer social drama Batti Gul Meter Chalu, which opened in cinemas on 21 September, earned Rs6.25 crore nett on its opening day, as reported by Boxofficeindia.com.
While for a Shahid Kapoor film the numbers aren’t bad, what is worrying for the producers is the hefty budget. As per trade sources, the film is made at a budget of Rs50 crore, and it has been released in 2,500 screens in India.
Shaandaar (2015), Kapoor's last solo lead film had a similar number of screens and it had opened to Rs11.71 crore nett. However, the film had a slightly higher budget of Rs69 crore, and it largely got bad reviews. The film could only make Rs39.4 crore in domestic business.
Before Shaandaar, Kapoor had Haider (2015) that was released across 1,200 screens and it managed to make Rs5.20 crore nett on its opening day.
Earlier, he had R...Rajkumar (2013) that was released across 2,350 screens and it opened to Rs9.47 crore nett. Phata Poster Nikla Hero, Kapoor’s other film in 2013, opened to Rs.581 crore nett.
Early this year, Kapoor was part of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s blockbuster Padmaavat (2018) that made Rs282.28 crore nett in domestic business. Padmaavat had grossed Rs545.92 crore worldwide. While the two films are vastly different, the actor would have hoped for Batti Gul Meter Chalu to fare better.
Meanwhile, Nandita Das’s Manto didn't make much of an impact on its opening day, collecting barely Rs45 lakh. There had been a technical glitch in several cities on the opening day due to which morning shows of the film were cancelled.
Manto review: This portrait of Manto is charming, engrossing, but not as provocative as his pen
Punjabi film Qismat enjoyed a good start bagging Rs1.80 crore (gross). The film features Ammy Virk and Sargun Mehta in the lead roles and is directed by Jagdeep Sidhu.
The preceding week’s release Manmarziyaan made just Rs75.80 lakh nett on its second Friday. Manmarziyaan’s eight-day total stands at Rs21.25 crore nett. The film is made at a budget of Rs30 crore.
Manmarziyaan review: Shows how the young and the old look at marriage, relationships
Holdover release Stree grew gradually, garnering Rs1.50 crore nett on its fourth Friday. Stree has so far bagged Rs112.02 crore nett in India.
Stree review: When a brilliant cast takes on consistently good comic writing