Mission Raniganj box office collection Day 1: Akshay Kumar-starrer can’t capitalise on OMG 2 success, debuts below Rs 3 crore

Mission Raniganj box office collection Day 1: Will Akshay Kumar's biopic be able to build momentum over the weekend after a low opening on Friday?

By: Entertainment Desk

Mumbai | October 7, 2023 09:03 AM IST

2 min read

Mission Ranijan stars Akshay Kumar as Jaswant Singh Gill. (Image: Pooja Entertainment/Facebook)

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Akshay Kumar‘s Mission Raniganj, which also stars the recently married Parineeti Chopra, debuted on a muted note at the box office on Thursday, just like the star’s previous releases like Selfiee and Samrat Prithviraj. Directed by Tinu Suresh Desai, the film is based on the life of unsung hero Jaswant Singh Gill, who saved the lives of 65 miners who were trapped in a flooded coal mine at the Mahabir Colliery, Raniganj, West Bengal in 1989.

On its opening day in cinemas, Mission Raniganj earned around Rs 2.80 crore, according to industry tracking website Sacnilk. The box office numbers suggest that the film has opened a little better than Selfiee (2022), which made Rs 1.30 on day one earlier this year. However, Mission Raniganj was expected to start on a slow note because Friday, October 6, was not a holiday, and it hadn’t received a major promotional push.

For years, Akshay had developed a reputation for delivering major hits, with most of them crossing the Rs 100 crore mark, if not more, his last being Sooryavanshi, directed by Rohit Shetty. The cop- action film was one of the first films to release post the Covid-19 pandemic, and it earned Rs 120 crore, bringing the audiences back to cinema halls after over a year.

Also read | Mission Raniganj movie review: Despite Akshay Kumar’s sincere performance, the film comes off as a tiresome plod

However, Akshay has been experiencing a lull period since 2022, when his film Bachchhan Paandey (2022) released. According to Bollywood Hungama, the film’s lifelong earnings were Rs 49.98 crore. His subsequent films such as Samrat Prithviraj earned Rs 68.05 crore, Raksha Bandhan made Rs 44.39 crore, Ram Setu on the other hand folded with Rs 71.87 crore and Selfiee closed at Rs 16.85 crore. However, Akshay’s last release, OMG 2, with Pankaj Tripathi and Yami Gautam in the lead roles, was a blockbuster as it deposited Rs 150.17 crore in the bank.

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