Box office: Marjaavaan passes the Monday test, Bala continues its good run

Against expectations, director Milap Zaveri’s Marjaavaan (2019) has passed the Monday test. Starring Sidharth Malhotra, Riteish Deshmukh and Tara Sutaria, the action film made Rs4 crore nett yesterday, as per figures shared by BoxOfficeIndia.com. 

Marjaavaan had a good weekend where it earned Rs23.75 crore nett. But the film faced a big challenge on Monday because of the poor reviews and largely negative word of mouth. Besides, the first Monday usually indicates which way a film is heading.

Trade sources have told Cinestaan.com that Marjaavaan was made on a budget of about Rs40 crore. With the kind of collection garnered yesterday, the film just might reach that score in the first week itself.

The last time Malhotra and Deshmukh starred together was in Mohit Suri’s Ek Villain (2014), which did a lifetime business in India of just under Rs100 crore. Although Marjaavaan is a film in the same genre, it has no chance of reaching that number. Zaveri was the writer of Ek Villain. 

Meanwhile, Motichoor Chaknachoor, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Athiya Shetty, which was released last Friday with Marjaavaan, has had a poor run with a total collection of just Rs1.60 crore nett in the first four days.

The Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer Bala (2019) had a good second Monday, however, making Rs2.25 crore. Directed by Amar Kaushik, the total collection of the film, which also stars Bhumi Pednekar and Yami Gautam, now stands at Rs89.75 crore.