Before the release of filmmaker Sukumar’s Pushpa: The Rise (2021), few would have expected its Hindi dubbed version to do well, never mind running in theatres for as long as two months. But that’s exactly what has happened.
The film, starring Allu Arjun, held steady even in its eighth week in theatres, earning Rs3.25 crore nett, according to trade website BoxOfficeIndia.com. In fact, this is the third highest eighth-week collection for any film in India. The top two films in the rare list are Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001) and Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019), which made Rs4.06 crore (not adjusted for inflation) and Rs3.83 crore, respectively.
What is even more impressive is that Pushpa has been doing good business in theatres almost a month after being released online in all languages — Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.
Of course, Pushpa has also benefited from the postponement of all big-ticket films in January and early February owing to the third COVID-19 wave.
With the wave subsiding and theatres in Delhi also reopening, Badhaai Do (2022), starring Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar, has been released in cinema halls today. Though it is not a big-budget film and is not expected to take the box office by storm, it will be interesting to see if it affects Pushpa’s phenomenal run at the ticket window.