NEW DELHI: Akshay Kumar’s period saga Kesari refuses to let go of its hold at the box office. The film showed a growth of around 90% on its fourth Saturday according to trade website Box Office India to take its total domestic earnings to ₹146 crore.
“Kesari is steady. Has a few more days to add to the total, till Kalank arrives," tweeted trade analyst Taran Adarsh referring to the release of the other period drama featuring Madhuri Dixit, Sanjay Dutt, Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Aditya Roy Kapur and Sonakshi Sinha that will hit screens this Wednesday and enjoy a five-day extended weekend. Both Kalank and Kesari are produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions.
Box Office India said Kesari should beat ensemble comedy Total Dhamaal to emerge as the second highest net (after the deduction of entertainment tax) earner of the year so far. The gross figures will remain less than Total Dhamaal as the latter has a higher ratio of business coming from Gujarat and Maharashtra where the service charges are higher and the former has a local tax structure also.
The other film that has benefited to some extent by the lack of new offerings is John Abraham’s spy thriller Romeo Akbar Walter (RAW) that has collected ₹30.75 crore so far.
“Romeo Akbar Walter has limited days to add to the total, since Kalank arrives on Wednesday," Adarsh pointed out. The other release last week, Hollywood superhero flick Shazaam! dropped even less than RAW and had earned ₹17.40 crore at last count. The David Sandberg directed film is trending well worldwide, having made more than $221 million according to trade website Box Office Mojo.
Meanwhile, in yet another unsurprising instance, the new Hollywood offering, supernatural superhero film Hellboy made ₹75 lakh on its opening day in India, beating Hindi offerings of the week including The Tashkent Files ( ₹35 lakh) and others like Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai, Blackboard vs Whiteboard, Ek Haqiqat Ganga, Gun Pe Done and Paharganj that failed to notch up more than a few lakhs.
