Box office: Badhaai Do opens with low numbers

The first-day collections for Badhaai Do (2022), directed by Harshavardhan Kulkarni, will fall in the Rs1.50-1.75 crore nett range, according to the trade website BoxOfficeIndia.com.

Much of the audience for the film, starring Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar, came from urban centres like Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Kolkata and Bangalore.

This has been a lean period for Hindi cinema with its last big release coming in the last week of December.

Badhaai Do review: Light-hearted yet mature look at LGBTQ lives

Badhaai Do’s storyline revolves around the marriage of a gay man and a lesbian woman to please their families and try and fit into society.

There are still COVID-19 restrictions in some parts of country that could have affected its overall numbers. Currently, night shows are only allowed in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and the southern states.

Moreover, the film’s LGBTQIA subject may be a hindrance to certain audiences in smaller cities and towns. According to our sources, Badhaai Do’s budget is in the Rs25–30 crore range and the film will need strong word-of-mouth to gain an audience over the next few days and the week ahead.

Meanwhile, the Hindi version of Kabir Khan's 83 (2021), the last big release in Hindi, continues to trudge along. The film has collected Rs1.15 crore nett approximately in its seventh week, according to BoxOfficeIndia.com, taking its total count to Rs102 crore nett.

The true-life sports drama, starring Ranveer Singh as Kapil Dev, has been having no competition from new releases till now.