Amitabh Bachchan’s Jhund, which released in theatres this Friday, has not managed to make a mark at the box-office. The film only collected between Rs 90 lakhs to 1 crore (nett) in the Maharashtra circuit and struggled to get any footfall in other parts of the country.
Written and directed by Nagraj Manjule, Jhund is based on the life of retired sports teacher, Vijay Barse, who founded an NGO called ‘Slum Soccer’. It marks Bachchan’s return to the big screen after Chehre last year.
Meanwhile, the Robert Pattinson-led superhero film The Batman, which also opened this Friday, has collected Rs 5.75 crore (nett) in India. The film saw a lot of footfall in Mumbai, Delhi, and South India. It is expected to finish with opening-day collections in the Rs 80-85 lakh range in Hyderabad, while the Mumbai circuit will be around Rs 1.25 crore.
Directed by Matt Reeves, The Batman also stars Jeffrey Wright as Lieutenant James Gordon and Colin Farrell as The Penguin. While it has not seen the enormous collection of the last big Hollywood release, Spider-Man: No Way Home, which raked in Rs 33 crore on its first day, The Batman is expected to pick up the pace during the weekend.
Both of this week’s releases also faced stiff competition from Alia Bhatt-starrer Gangubai Kathiawadi, which entered its second week this Friday. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial, which earned over Rs 60 crores even before the end of its first week, collected Rs 4.50 crore on its second Friday, taking its tally to Rs 71 crore (nett) in eight days. It is expected to cross the 100-crore mark by next weekend.
Loosely based on a chapter from Hussain Zaidi and Jane Borges’ book, Mafia Queens of Mumbai, Gangubai Kathiawadi has Bhatt playing one of the most influential women in Kamathipura, a red-light district in Mumbai. It had the second-biggest opening for a female-led film in India.
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Anupam Reddy, an executive committee member of the Telangana State Film Chamber of Commerce, told Silverscreen India that the Alia Bhatt-starrer is seeing more numbers in its second week than the new release Jhund.
He further said that The Batman is running to nearly full theatres and is expected to keep up that performance through the weekend.
“Currently, we have three shows a day for Jhund and four for Gangubai Kathiawadi. The Bachchan film is seeing only 20-25% occupancy, while the SLB film is still pulling in a minimum of 25%. The Batman is playing for five shows but we may increase it by one more next week, depending on the performance. Jhund, on the other hand, may get cut down to one show a day, if the film fails to attract much audience,” said Reddy, who is also the owner of Hyderabad’s Sudha Theatre.