Response to Gangubai Kathiawadi, which was released in Theaters yesterday has been resounding. The box-office collections for day 1 of Alia Bhatt starrer has surpassed expectations. Boxofficeindia.com estimates collections to be at around ₹ 9.50-10 crores. Trade Analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted that the movie has netted ₹ 10.50 crores on its first day.
While there were expectations of a strong opening, it was not expected to cross the 10 crore mark. The movie was expected to do business of around ₹ 7 crores on its first day with collections of ₹ 25 crores over the weekend. It is now the third highest first day collection during pandemic with Sooryavanshi collecting ₹ 26.3 crores and 83 The Film raking in ₹ 12.6 crores on their respective first day. However, among the three movies, Gangubai Kathiawadi is the only release not coinciding with a major festival or holiday. Sooryavanshi was a Diwali release and 83 The Film release on the Christmas weekend.
It has also turned out to be one of the highest collections for a movie with a female actor in the lead. Veere di Wedding with Kareena Kapoor Khan in the lead had a collection of around Rs. 10.70 crores on its first day. Manikarnika, starring Kangana Ranaut had managed around Rs. 7.75 crores. Alia Bhatts own movie, Raazi, collected Rs. 7.5 crores on its release day. Apart from Gangubai Kathiawadi, all these movies released pre-pandemic.
There are multiple reasons why the movie was expected to do well.
First, in terms of screen count, the movie received a wide release with it being showcased in more than 3000 screens across the country. There was no other major Bollywood release clashing with it. The Tamil action thriller Valimai released yesterday as well but it had a limited release in terms of screen count in the traditional Hindi belt.
Secondly, this is a Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie. Sanjay Leela Bhansali is a widely popular and successful director. His two most recent movies, Padmaavat and Bajirao Mastani were huge box office hits. His last movie as director (Padmaavat) released back in 2018 with fans awaiting his next release since. Any Bhansali movie was expected to get a huge reception.
Third, the movie has been receiving positive reviews after it premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival where it is said to have received a standing ovation. This had created a hype around the movie before its release.
Lastly, this is one of the biggest Bollywood releases since the third wave of the pandemic struck the country and restrictions on theatres were imposed. With most restrictions now removed, cinephiles are flocking to the movie theatres once again. This pent-up demand may also lead to higher-than-expected collections for the movie.
The movie is loosely based on the true story of Gangubai Harjivandas, popularly known as Gangubai Kothewali, whose life was documented in the book Mafia Queens of Mumbai written by S. Hussain Zaidi. Alia Bhatt must be relieved with box-office collection numbers after the debacle of her last movie – Sadak 2 – which was released directly on OTT (Disney+Hotstar).
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