Pati Patni Aur Woh Do Enjoys Fair Opening Weekend, Aakhri Sawal Struggles

Ayushmann Khurrana’s Pati Patni Aur Woh Do has secured a fair opening weekend at the box office, while Sanjay Dutt’s Aakhri Sawal faced a challenging start.

Last week’s release Pati Patni Aur Woh Do was a family entertainer with situational comedy and romance. The other release, Aakhri Sawal, is a hard-hitting drama based on history. As a result, the Ayushmann Khurrana-led movie was more universal in appeal, whereas Sanjay Dutt was driving a niche subject for a discerning audience.

Box Office Performance: Pati Patni Aur Woh Do

Pre-pandemic, a film like Pati Patni Aur Woh Do would have taken a comfortable opening in the range of Rs 8 crore to Rs 10 crore (Rs 80 million to Rs 100 million).

This was the time when the genre essentially worked, as actors like Kartik Aaryan, Ayushmann Khurrana and Varun Dhawan would frequently star in such films. But the situation is different post-pandemic, as the opening day expectation has come down as these days, and word-of-mouth drives such films.

So while one expected an opening of Rs 5 crore to Rs 6 crore (Rs 50 million to Rs 60 million) for Pati Patni Aur Woh Do, the actual number was lower at Rs 4.38 crore (Rs 43.8 million). This, despite it being a part of a successful franchise and having a good looking female cast of Sara Ali Khan, Wamiqa Gabbi and Rakul Singh.

Saturday saw a 50 percent jump while Sunday saw a jump of 35 percent, ensuring reasonable numbers and a fair weekend total of Rs 20.11 crore (Rs 201. million). The Mudassar Aziz-directed comedy is now eyeing a good hold over weekdays.

If Monday collections come to Rs 3 crore (Rs 30 million), that would put the film in an advantageous situation as double digits over the weekdays would be confirmed. Collections will see a spike on ‘Blockbuster Tuesday’ (when ticket prices are dropped).

Aakhri Sawal‘s Box Office Struggle

Aakhri Sawal took a low opening of around Rs 30 lakh (Rs 3 million). Even though this is a niche film, one expected at least Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) to come in, especially since it starred Sanjay Dutt.

The film did see day-on-day growth with Saturday doubling over Friday (Rs 60 lakh) and Sunday tripling it (Rs 90 lakh). While this is good, it’s at a lower range.

Monday’s box office fate will be crucial to the film, which currently has a weekend total of Rs 1.80 crore* (Rs 18 million). This is an expensive film with good credentials and Monday’s collections would need to be greater than Friday’s for it to have any chance at the box office.

*Estimates. Note: All collections as per various box office sources.

Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff