Box office: Saaho’s release sees Mission Mangal and Batla House numbers drop

As expected, the release of the Hindi version of Saaho, starring Prabhas and Shraddha Kapoor, has affected the numbers of Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan’s Mission Mangal and John Abraham’s Batla House. The two films, which were both released on Independence Day, made Rs1.75 crore nett and Rs50 lakh nett, respectively, on their third Friday, as per figures shared by BoxOfficeIndia.com. 

Directed by Sujeeth, Saaho, a hard-core action film, made a very good Rs24 crore nett from its Hindi version alone at the domestic box office. The hype around the film and the fact that this is Prabhas’s first film since the mega hit Baahubali: The Conclusion (2017) worked to Saaho's advantage on opening day. 

However, the drop in numbers should not be a worry for Mission Mangal and Batla House as both films have already entered the hit zone.

Based on India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) and also starring Taapsee Pannu, Nithya Menen, Sonakshi Sinha, Sharman Joshi and HG Dattatreya, Mission Mangal was made at a cost of about Rs100 crore and has so far made Rs174.65 crore nett at the domestic box office. 

Directed by Nikkhil Advani, Batla House, on the other hand, has so far made Rs83.55 crore. The film was made on a budget of around Rs60 crore. The film has become John Abraham’s highest solo earner, beating Satyameva Jayate (2018), which had made Rs79.61 crore nett at the domestic box office.

A point to be noted here is that Saaho has got poor reviews and terrible word-of-mouth publicity so far. Whether this helps Mission Mangal and Batla House sustain their run at the box office for a while longer will be known this week.