After a rather dismal first half of 2022 in terms of box-office numbers of Hindi films, all eyes were on the two big films going head-to-head on the Independence day weekend. Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha (2022), a remake of the classic Hollywood film, the Tom Hanks-starrer, Forrest Gump (1994), seemed to take forever to make, with the Covid-19 pandemic induced delays. Co-starring Kareena Kapoor Khan and Mona Singh, the film seemed to have been made in Aamir Khan’s characteristic style, with every detail being pored over.
Laal Singh Chaddha review: Aamir Khan’s remake of Forrest Gump is just average fare
On the other hand, is the Akshay Kumar starrer, Raksha Bandhan (2022), a predictable, straight-as-an-arrow, presumably crowd-pleaser of a film on the occasion of Rakhi, directed by Aanand L Rai and co-starring Bhumi Pednekar and Sadia Khateeb.
Raksha Bandhan review: Loud, regressive tale of sibling bonds
Despite being as different as chalk and cheese, the two films seem to have met a similar fate at the box office. With a whopping budget of Rs180 crores, Laal Singh Chaddha, opened at only Rs11.50 crore nett and as reported by the trade website BoxOfficeIndia.com, fell by 40% on Saturday to scuttle together Rs7-7.25 crore nett, taking the two day collection to Rs18.50 crore nett.
Box office: Laal Singh Chaddha has a low opening, Raksha Bandhan also doesn’t fare well
With a significantly lower budget of Rs70 crore, Raksha Bandhan has a comparably smaller task to achieve. The film opened at Rs8 crore and collected around Rs 6.25 crore nett on the second day, making it a total of Rs 14.25 crore collected so far. Although this is a 25% drop from the first day collections, according to BoxOfficeIndia.com, the film seems to be faring better than its counterpart as it is doing better in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
It remains to be seen if the coming holidays on Sunday and Monday due to Independence day will help revive the fortunes of the films or not.