Manmarziyaan box office day 2: Anurag Kashyap registers career-best numbers, film shows big jump

Director Anurag Kashyap’s latest film, his first romantic drama, Manmarziyaan, witnessed an impressive jump in box office figures on its second day of release. After raking in Rs 3.5 crore on Friday, the film made Rs 5.1 crore on Saturday to take its two-day total to Rs 8.6 crore.

According to trade analyst Taran Adarsh, north India was the film’s biggest market, but considering Friday’s muted numbers the jump ‘should have been higher.’ He had predicted on Friday that the film’s day-to-day numbers will show an increase on Saturday and Sunday, as the current trends suggest, but that the ‘real test’ will be how it performs during the week. 

Manmarziyaan, which marks actor Abhishek Bachchan’s return to films after a two-year break, also stars Taapsee Pannu and Vicky Kaushal. Each of the film’s three leads has received glowing reviews for their performances.

The Rs 8.6 crore total marks director Kashyap’s best debut in years. His last film, the boxing drama Mukkabaaz, managed approximately Rs 10 crore in total during its entire theatrical run, while the ones before that, Raman Raghav 2.0 and Ugle, barely crossed the Rs 7 crore and Rs 6 crore marks in total. By contrast, Abhishek’s last release, the 2016 comedy Housefull 3, made Rs 15 crore on its first day.

The Hindustan Times review, giving the film 2.5 stars out of 5, noted that Manmarziyaan “is a quirky film with incredibly compelling characters, but, as a love story, it eventually squanders its momentum.” 

Meanwhile, Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor’s recent horror-comedy, Stree, became the ninth film of the year to enter the coveted Rs 100 crore club. Previously, films such as Padmaavat, Sonu Ki Titu Ki Sweety, Raid, Baaghi 2, Raazi, Race 3, Sanju and Gold had all made more than Rs 100 crore at the Indian box office.

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