Gangubai Kathiawadi, led by Alia Bhatt, has entered the 100-crore club. The Hindi film raked in Rs 101.50 crore at the Indian box office by the end of its second week.
The Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial, which had collected over Rs 60 crore before the end of its first week, raked in an additional Rs 35 crore in the second week. It has performed best in Maharashtra and Gujarat, where it earned close to Rs 40 crore. This was expected as the Maharashtra government had eased Covid-19 restrictions in the state and allowed 100% occupancy in the theatres once more.
Loosely based on a chapter from Hussain Zaidi and Jane Borges’ book, Mafia Queens of Mumbai, Gangubai Kathiawadi revolves around one of the most influential women in Kamathipura, a red-light district in Mumbai.
It notably had the second-biggest opening for a female-led film in India, behind Kareena Kapoor Khan’s Veere Di Wedding, which released pre-pandemic.
Gangubai Kathiawadi is reported to be heading towards the 200-crore mark worldwide, although it is likely to face stiff competition from Prabhas-starrer Radhe Shyam and Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files, both of which released on Friday.
The Bhatt-starrer also has the potential to become the biggest Hindi film in the UK since the pandemic. Its numbers in the US/Canada market and the Gulf have been quite good as well.
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The film is looking to close its second week at around Rs 162-163 crore worldwide. It appears to be on course to match or exceed the gross collections of Ranveer Singh’s 83 (Hindi version), which stands at Rs 187 crore. The biggest pandemic era Hindi film, Akshay Kumar’s Sooryavanshi, on the other hand, grossed Rs 297 crore worldwide.
Regardless of its future prospects, Gangubai Kathiawadi has already become one of the biggest earners for the Hindi film industry in the pandemic era, after Sooryavanshi. It is expected to potentially finish with a total of approximately Rs 125 crore at the box office.