Box office: Kesari collection drops by over 50% on first Monday 

After a bright opening, Dharma Productions' Kesari (2019) hasn’t quite grown as expected. The film's business dropped by over 50% from its Sunday collection (Rs21.50 crore nett) to Rs8.25 crore nett on its first Monday, as reported by Boxofficeindia.com.

The period war film, starring Akshay Kumar and Parineeti Chopra, has made Rs86.50 crore nett in its domestic business so far. Directed by Anurag Singh, Kesari is made at an estimated budget of Rs100 crore, and was released on 3,600 screens in India and 600 screens overseas.

Kesari is based on the 1897 Battle of Saragarhi, fought between 21 Sikh soldiers of the British Indian Army and over 10,000 Afghan tribal men.

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Meanwhile, holdover release Badla (2019) has surpassed the business of Sriram Raghavan’s Andhadhun (2018) within three weeks.  

Andhadhun, starring Ayushmann Khurrana, had made Rs73.37 crore nett in its total India business. Badla has picked up Rs7.75 crore nett in the four days of its third week, taking its total to Rs74.45 crore nett in its India business so far. Badla features Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu.

Made at an estimated budget of Rs24 crore, Badla was released on 1,000 screens. Directed by Sujoy Ghosh and produced by Red Chillies Entertainment and Azure Entertertainment, Badla is the remake of Spanish film Contratriempo (2016).

Badla review: Entertaining tale of revenge with expected twists and turns

Badla has already proved to be the most successful film for Pannu in a leading role. Pink (2016), produced by Shoojit Sircar, was released on 1,000 screens too and had made Rs65.52 crore nett in its India business. Director David Dhawan's Judwaa 2 (2017) had Pannu playing one of the female leads. The film, also starring Varun Dhawan, had made Rs132.39 crore nett in its India business.