With a movie budget of USD 4.83 million, Roohi is Bollywood’s first big film this year
Due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, last year witnessed a majority of Bollywood blockbusters either pushing their release dates, or releasing on OTT platforms. Indian blockbusters such as Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, Dil Bechara and Shakuntala Devi opted for the later in 2020, with Laxmii featuring Akshay Kumar being the only Bollywood blockbuster to release in hybrid format – Disney+Hotstar release in India and a simultaneous theatrical release in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and UAE. The theatrical release of Laxmii was successful, especially in the UAE where it made a total of USD 200,000, but the latest horror comedy film Roohi – by director Hardik Mehta, which went straight to cinemas both locally and internationally, has taken the top spot at box office since the pandemic, with a collection of USD 345,000 on its first day in India – despite most theatres still operating between 50-75% occupancy. According to boxofficeindia.com, its total collection thus far has been USD 2.26 million domestically, and USD 150,000 internationally.
#Roohi is looking at approx ₹ 17.50 cr total in its *extended* Week 1… A respectable number, in view of the #Covid scenario… Thu 3.06 cr [#MahaShivratri], Fri 2.25 cr, Sat 3.42 cr, Sun 3.85 cr, Mon 1.35 cr, Tue 1.26 cr, Wed 1.22 cr. Total: ₹ 16.41 cr. #India biz.
— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) March 18, 2021
As stated by Chauhan, a local exhibitor from Bihar, India: “Before Roohi‘s release, we would have no idea how much a film would do in these pandemic times. We would look at each other’s faces wondering how much a film would earn at the box office. But now we have a benchmark. And Bollywood needed this dose of confidence.”
Girish Johar, film producer and trade business analyst, pointed out that Roohi has witnessed a good response at the box office despite being one of the first big Indian films to release post theaters being opened. With Roohi seeing strong footfalls, exhibitors in India are now hopeful for business to slowly get back on track.
Roohi‘s opening day numbers will set the stage for the extensive line up of highly anticipated Bollywood blockbusters set to hit the big screen in 2021, including Mumbai Saga (March), Bunty Aur Babli 2 (April), Sooryavanshi (April), Radhe (May), Bell Bottom (May), 83 (June), Maidaan (October) and Laal Singh Chaddha (December) among others.
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Sources: Business Today, Box Office India, Forbes, Times of India and ABP Live
