After a promising start and a fruitful weekend at the box office, the Akshay Kumar-starrer Kesari 2 hit a significant slump on Monday. According to industry tracker Sacnilk, the film witnessed a sharp 69.83 percent dip in its collections, earning just RS 4.5 crore. This brings its total domestic collection to Rs 34 crore. Kesari 2 recorded an overall 14.39 percent Hindi occupancy on Monday. Globally, the movie is sitting at Rs 49 lakh in four days of release.
The film began its box office journey with Rs 7.75 crore on Friday and made the most of its opening weekend. It saw a 25 percent jump on Saturday, collecting Rs 9.75 crore, followed by another 23 percent increase on Sunday, minting Rs 12 crore. However, the momentum couldn’t be sustained as the film saw a steep fall on its first weekday.
The film is currently competing in theatres with Sunny Deol’s Jaat, which is in its second week. While Kesari 2 managed to surpass Jaat’s second Monday numbers, it still fell short when compared to Jaat’s first Monday collection of Rs 7.25 crore – considerably higher than Kesari 2’s Rs 4.50 crore.
The comparison with Akshay Kumar’s own past releases also paints a tough picture. The original Kesari had earned Rs 8.25 crore on its first Monday, almost double of what the sequel managed. Additionally, Akshay’s recent release Sky Force also performed better, collecting Rs 7 crore on its first Monday. However, Kesari 2 performed better than Akshay other recent releases like Khel Khel Mein, which minted Rs 2 crore on its first Monday and Sarfira, which raked in Rs 1.45 crore on the same day.
In the film, Akshay plays the historical figure SC Sankaran Nair, but Kesari 2 has also sparked debate for its fictionalised portrayal of real-life characters and events. Many viewers took to social media to criticise the makers for taking creative liberties with the narrative. However, the film’s director Karan Singh Tyagi addressed the criticism in an interview, clarifying that Kesari 2 is intended as ‘a synthesis of history and fiction’ and that ‘films based on real-life events aren’t supposed to be photographs; they can be paintings, open to interpretation.’
Kesari 2 also stars Ananya Panday and R Madhavan in lead roles. It is bankrolled by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions.