Hanuman Ansh, tiny ₹2 crore film with no stars, beats Yash's ₹500 crore Toxic at the box office in shock upset
Here's the latest box office buzz making the rounds:
When it was originally set to rollout in March, Yash ’s pan-India actioner Toxic was expected to go head-to-head with Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar 2. The crisis in the Middle East averted that clash as Toxic postponed its rollout. Eventually, as it rolled out in August, Toxic had no competition, or so it thought. After a bumper start, the box-office fortunes of Toxic declined rapidly. On the other hand, Hanuman Ansh , a devotional movie with no stars and a tiny budget, is now out-earning it in a massive upset.
Adding to this, Hanuman Ansh is a devotional movie about Neem Karoli Baba. Hanuman Ansh beats Toxic at the ticket-window Made on a budget of just ₹ 2 crore rupees, Hanuman Ansh had an inauspicious start at the ticket-window, earning only ₹ 10 lakh on its opening day. But it was after it completed three weeks in theatres that the movie began to pick up. In its fourth weekend, Hanuman Ansh raked in ₹ 28 crore rupees net in India. On Monday, it avoided a huge drop, but its performance on Tuesday raised quite a few eyebrows. On Tuesday, its 26th day in theatres, Hanuman Ansh registered a 54% jump in collections, netting ₹ 8.50 crore rupees in India. On the same day, Toxic, the recent big rollout, managed only ₹ 8.20 crore rupees, despite running in five languages and over 1500 more screens than Hanuman Ansh.
Meanwhile, Hanuman Ansh’s growth at the theatres has been nothing short of stupendous. The movie rolled out in less than 100 theatres a month ago. This figure was reduced to around 20 by its second week. But then, a resurgence saw the movie’s screen count surge to over 1500 by its fourth week at the ticket-window. As things stand, Hanuman Ansh may eat up Toxic’s screens across India as exhibitors would want to bet on a ‘sure thing’ more than a sinking ship.
Notably, Written and directed by Vishal Chaturvedi, Hanuman Ansh features an ensemble cast, with Chandan Anand and Shobhinav Satyaa in the lead roles. The movie was made on a shoestring budget of ₹ 2 crore rupees and rolled out in theatres without much fanfare on August 7. So far, it has collected over ₹ 50 crore rupees net and looks set to cross ₹ 100 crore rupees before shutting shop.
As per the latest buzz, The movie traces the life of Lakshman Das and how he found spiritualism, transforming into Neem Karoli Baba . It follows the spiritual leader's journey from age 13 to the point where he came to be loved and revered. The movie's writer-director is a doctor-turned-filmmaker. It is produced by Swambhu Media Network Pvt. Ltd., Ragini S., Namrata G. S., and Anupriya A. Nagar. Hanuman Ansh is currently running in theatres.
In further updates, Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Movie Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world. Read More
Source: Hindustan Times