New Delhi, 17 August (H.S.): Sunny Deol’s much-anticipated film ‘Batwara 1947’ has arrived in theatres, but its box-office performance appears to be falling short of expectations. Despite Deol’s commanding screen presence and Rajkumar Santoshi’s direction, the film seems to be struggling to draw audiences to cinemas. Notably, Sunny Deol’s ‘Border 2’, released earlier this year, opened with a first-day collection of Rs 32 crore, whereas ‘Batwara 1947’ has failed to come close to that figure even after its entire opening weekend.

According to early estimates from Sacnilk, the film had a sluggish opening, collecting Rs 5.75 crore on its first day. However, collections witnessed a significant rise on the second day, when the film earned Rs 13.50 crore, providing some relief to the makers. On Sunday, however, its third-day collection declined again to around Rs 7.25 crore. As a result, the film’s three-day domestic net collection stands at approximately Rs 26.50 crore, while its worldwide earnings are estimated at around Rs 37.11 crore.

Made on a reported budget of around Rs 120 crore, the film’s initial numbers have raised concerns. In terms of Sunny Deol’s solo films, ‘Batwara 1947’ has also registered a weak opening. His 2018 film ‘Bhaiaji Superhit’ had opened at around Rs 1 crore, making ‘Bantwara 1947’ one of the weakest openers among his recent solo releases.

The film has been directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, who has previously collaborated with Sunny Deol on successful films such as ‘Ghayal’, ‘Damini’ and ‘Ghatak’. The film also features Preity Zinta, Shabana Azmi, Ali Fazal, Karan Deol and Abhimanyu Singh in key roles.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar