Ajay's Tanhaji earns Rs 16 cr, Deepika's Chhapaak lags at Rs 4.75 cr

Lucknow: The Bollywood this week gave two extremely iconic films that went head-to-head at the box office on Friday. The opening day collections of Deepika Padukone’s Chhapaak and Ajay Devgn’s Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior are in.

As per a Boxofficeindia report, Chhapaak has earned Rs 4.75 crore on day one. The report added that the morning collections were decent and trade experts expected a growth in the evening but it did not pick up pace.

The report also added that Ajay Devgn’s Tanhaji The Unsung Warrior surpassed Chhapaak with its box office collections, earnings Rs 16 crore on the first day of the release. State wise, Tanhaji performed very well in Maharashtra while it was decent in North and East India and Nizam and Andhra Pradesh collections were also good, it added.

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Both the films are vastly different in scale and their release. Trade experts had predicted an opening of Rs 5-7 crore for Chaapaak while they expected Tanhaji The Unsung Warrior to open at over Rs 10-14 crore.

“Tanhaji is a commercial entertainer which is much bigger in budget and star cast whereas Chhapaak is realistic social drama. Tanhaji has a wider release with around 3500 plus screens whereas Chhapaak has around 1500-2000 screens. But it’s a non-holiday release and looking at the disturbed environment in the country right now, they are good numbers at the end of the day,” trade analyst Girish Johar had earlier told sorces.

There has been divisive trends on social media after Deepika visited JNU to show solidarity with protesting students. Hashtags like #BoycottChhapaak trended as did #IStandWithDeepika.

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Directed by Meghna Gulzar, Chhapaak is the story of acid attack survivor Malti (essayed by Deepika) and her fight back to normal life. The film is loosely based on Delhi’s Laxmi Aggarwal’s life.

Directed by Om Raut, Tanhaji The Unsung Warrior brings Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan and Kajol together after a long time. The film is a period saga that traces the story of Tanhaji Malusare (Ajay), a subedaar in Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s army.

How well will both the movies perform in the upcoming week is still to be witnessed.

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