Box office: Marathi film Pawankhind mints Rs6.5 crore on first weekend, Badhaai Do holds on

The Marathi movie Pawankhind has sprung a surprise at the box office. The Digpal Lanjekar-directed historical epic has amassed Rs6.50 crore on its first weekend, as per figures shared by the trade website BoxOfficeIndia.com.

Pawankhind opened at Rs1.25 crore nett, which is a good number for a film that was released only in Maharashtra. The next two days saw a jump in numbers with the film collecting Rs2.25 crore and Rs3 crore on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

The three-day total of the film — starring Chinmay Mandlekar, Ajay Purkar, Mrinal Kulkarni and Ankit Mohan — stands at Rs6.50 crore nett. The highest first-weekend collection for a Marathi film was achieved by Nagraj Popatrao Manjule’s Sairat (2016), which made Rs11.50 crore. Pawankhind could have earned more if theatres in Maharashtra were allowed to operate at 100% occupancy. 

The Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar-starrer Badhaai Do, meanwhile, earned Rs4.25 crore on its second weekend.

The overall total of the Harshavardhan Kulkarni film, which has been made on a budget of Rs25 to Rs30 crore, is Rs16.17 crore. 

Badhaai Do has only this week to earn as much as it can because Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s keenly-awaited period drama Gangubai Kathiawadi will be released on Friday.