Box office: Chehre off to a slow start, collects only Rs40 lakh on Day 1

Chehre, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Emraan Hashmi, Rhea Chakraborty and Annu Kapoor, is the second Hindi film to arrive in theatres after the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic ebbed in India. The mystery thriller, which has been released in most states except the all-important Maharashtra, got a lukewarm response at the box office on its opening day yesterday.

Directed by Rumy Jafry, Chehre made an opening collection of only Rs40 lakh nett, according to figures shared by BoxOfficeIndia.com. This is a poor collection indeed, particularly for a film having A-list stars like the veteran Bachchan and Hashmi.

The only good news for Chehre's producers is that there is not much competition in Hindi because the Akshay Kumar-starrer Bell Bottom, too, is playing on low numbers, which means there is scope for the collections to move up from here. Bell Bottom added just about Rs75 lakh nett on its second Friday, taking the film's overall collection to about Rs19.5 crore nett.

The biggest surprise, though, is the Punjabi film Chal Mera Putt 2 which had had a theatrical run of just about a week in March last year before the state shut cinema halls, among other places, as a precautionary measure to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by the central government suddenly declaring a countrywide lockdown, and which was re-released yesterday. The comedy, starring Amrinder Singh and Simi Chahal, collected Rs1 cr nett with 50% occupancy and fewer cinemas.

Given the lukewarm response received by both Hindi films till now, it will be interesting to see if the filmmakers aiming for a theatrical release go ahead with their plans or play the waiting game.