An Action Hero, Drishyam 2 box office: Ajay Devgn thriller earns Rs 186.7 cr, Ayushmann’s meta film fails to take off

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh shared the latest box office figures of the films and tweeted, “#Drishyam2 is a STORM that’s not going to subside soon… #D2 has revived weekend biz at metros as well as mass pockets… Biz on [third] Sat and Sun is EXCEPTIONAL… [Week 3] Fri 4.45 cr, Sat 8.45 cr, Sun 10.39 cr. Total: ₹ 186.76 cr. #India biz. BLOCKBUSTER. #Bhediya gets moving in Weekend 2, but the growth is restricted due to #D2 dominance… An upward trend on [second] Sat and Sun is a positive sign, but the 10-day total is below expectations… [Week 2] Fri 1.95 cr, Sat 3.70 cr, Sun 4.36 cr. Total: ₹ 52.06 cr. #India biz. #AnActionHero finds the going tough in its opening weekend… Did show some spark on Day 2, but didn’t fire enough on Day 3… The 3-day total is way below expectations… Fri 1.31 cr, Sat 2.16 cr, Sun 2.52 cr. Total: ₹ 5.99 cr. #India biz.”

In fact, Drishyam has single-handedly been taking care of the Hindi box office since its release, as it races towards the coveted Rs 200 crore club. The film, directed by Abhishek Pathak, is a Hindi remake of the Malayalam hit starring Mohanlal.

Meanwhile, Ayushmann took to social media to write a note of love for the film and the audiences who turned up to see An Action Hero. He wrote partly in Hindi, “This is my first action film. This is Anirudh Iyer’s first movie, it is musician’s Parag’s first theatrical, writer Neeraj Yadav’s first film…During the entire journey of An Action Hero, it really felt like we were the newest students of cinema and were all set to make something really new and exciting.”

He continued, “As a team, we are always inclined to cause creative destruction. From Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan and now An Action Hero, we have tried to give audiences something new to savour and discuss through our brand of cinema. So we are humbled with all the positivity and strong word of mouth. We hope this snowballs into more and more people coming into theatres. We have always wanted to tell stories differently and projects that are fresh, unique and clutter-breaking. We are grateful for all the love coming towards An Action Hero. It validates our stance of walking the road less travelled, to take risks and hopefully contribute to making our industry a more diverse storytelling entity. For us, An Action Hero is a rare script, a film that was meant to push the envelope of creativity and we hope you continue giving it love and appreciation in days to come. Keep loving and supporting.” The post was signed by Ayushmann and producer Aanand L Rai.

 

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An Action Hero is the slowest horse in this race of the box office, and only time will tell if the film manages to break even. If it ends up tanking, An Action Hero will be Ayushmann Khurrana’s fourth flop in a row after the box office failure of Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui, Anek and Doctor G.

Trade is still hopeful that the film might revive interest in cinephiles after a good word of mouth, since the feature has been largely lauded by critics. The Indian Express’ film critic Shubhra Gupta gave the movie 2.5 stars and called it a ‘mostly fun’ film in her review.

“The film is stuffed with meta jokes, in-house gags, and a running jibe against the shouty TV shows which have declared Bollywood a national enemy, including a string of rebuttals to the hashtag #BoycottBollywood that’s been the bane of the Hindi film industry. This is what makes it more than a message-in-a-bottle, a favourite Bollywood trope. The best part: many of those jokes land, and An Action Hero becomes a rarity, a caper which is mostly fun,” read a section of her review.