Last week was a pleasant surprise as ‘Mrs. Chatterjee Vs Norway’ held decently at the box office. It surprisingly saw a slight jump in collections on Tuesday as Wednesday was a partial holiday on account of Gudi Padwa. Wednesday collections were also strong and the film will end up with a lifetime of Rs. 15-17 Crore, provided it remains steady in the second weekend. The collections aren’t huge but for a film like this, it’s reasonable, especially in the post-pandemic world. ‘Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar’, meanwhile, dropped a bit on Friday but jumped on Saturday and Sunday. This film also did well on the weekdays and it is expected to collect Rs. 120-125 Crore in its lifetime.
And this week, too, will bring smiles. ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ is set to release today evening and the advance sales are very encouraging. It has proved to be a surprise as the earlier three films weren’t that big in India. ‘John Wick 3’ (2019) had collected around Rs. 11 Crore while the first two parts had collectively earned Rs. 4 Crore only. ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’, meanwhile, can collect as much as ‘John Wick 3’s lifetime collections by Sunday or even by Saturday. It has the potential to cross the Rs. 25 Crore mark. What will benefit the fourth part is that it’ll also release in Hindi. Moreover, the reviews from the West are very positive. It’s difficult to say how the series became this big all of a sudden but the studio and the exhibitors are not complaining for sure.
The other major release of the week is ‘Bheed’. It is directed by Anubhav Sinha and stars Rajkummar Rao, Bhumi Pednekar, Pankaj Kapur, Dia Mirza, Kritika Kamra and Ashutosh Rana. It is set during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic and hence, it’s releasing on the eve of the first lockdown.
‘Bheed’, however, has been in the news due to its controversies. The teaser of the film drew sharp reactions as it compared the lockdown with the partition. Interestingly, T-Series was involved with the film then. But the criticism towards the teaser and also the belief that the film is ‘anti-government’ reportedly made T-Series back out of the film. Hence, the posters and assets that came later on didn’t bear the name of the production house. The trailer was then released and some days later, it was pulled down. It was up again but this time the voiceover of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was edited out, as were a few more references.
A section of people, however, is providing full support to ‘Bheed’. But the number of such people is very few. The film is meant for niche audiences and on top of it, it is in black and white. A large section of the audience will stay away from the film. Also, the lockdown is a painful memory which people probably don’t want to revisit.
Anubhav Sinha’s last film ‘Anek’ (2022) opened at Rs. 1.71 Crore. ‘Bheed’ is expected to have a lesser opening. Good word of mouth can help the film to grow over the weekend.
