Bhediya (Hindi) has had a sluggish start to the box office, but revenue rose as the evening and night shows went on. Estimates place the first day revenue between Rs 6.70 and 7.50 crore. The Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon movie had a slow morning show but picked up after the 5 o’clock shows throughout the nation, bringing in close to Rs 7 crore. Varun’s most recent film, Jug Jugg Jeeyo, had a better start, and all eyes are now on the weekend box office performance.
The Amar Kaushik-directed movie brought in more than $3.50 crore at the three national chains, PVR, Inox, and Cinepolis, and it made up about 50% of the overall business. The movie was marketed as a kid-friendly creature comedy, which led to some foot traffic in the mass belts. In the metro areas, the movie did worse than Jug Jugg Jeeyo, but outside of the cities, it did better. Bhediya must now increase by 50% on Saturday before consolidating that rise with an additional 30% to 40% increase on Sunday. This alone won’t be enough for the movie to succeed, as it will also need to pass the important Monday and Tuesday test by maintaining a profit of at least Rs 5 crore on both days.
The film has a window of opportunity until the December 16 premiere of Avatar, but whether it can use it will be determined on Monday. Bhediya should have gotten off to a double-digit start, but these figures put the movie through its paces each day in the first week. Jug Jugg Jeeyo was superior to this film in terms of genre, setup, and audience appeal; however, the industry and film circles find this debut to be disappointing despite the trailer’s genuine excitement.
Bhediya has also been released in Tamil and Telugu, and while we haven’t yet received numbers for the dubbed version, all of India may have made slightly less than Rs 8 crore.
