Shehzada box office collection Day 1: Kartik Aaryan fails to recreate magic of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, film earns Rs 6 cr

Taran Adarsh wrote on Twitter, “#Shehzada disappoints on Day 1, despite buy-one-get-one-free offer… National chains ordinary, mass circuits dull… #MahaShivratri holiday on Day 2 may improve biz, but needs bigger jumps for a respectable weekend total… Fri ₹ 6 cr [+/-]. #India biz.”

#Shehzada disappoints on Day 1, despite buy-one-get-one-free offer… National chains ordinary, mass circuits dull… #MahaShivratri holiday on Day 2 may improve biz, but needs bigger jumps for a respectable weekend total… Fri ₹ 6 cr [+/-]. #India biz. pic.twitter.com/xBc2aDKWIR

— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) February 18, 2023

As per Box Office India, the film has managed to reach this number because of the incentive of the buy-one-get-one-free ticket. Its competitors at the ticket counters, Pathaan and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania earned Rs 2.50 crore and Rs 9 crore respectively.

The film trade experts were apprehensive about Shehzada’s box office success even before its release as they thought that the makers “made a mistake” by shifting the film’s release by a week to avoid the havoc that Pathaan was creating at the ticket counters. Taran Adarsh argued that the film would have enjoyed a solo release had it been released on February 10, avoiding a clash with the MCU movie.

Film producer and trade expert Girish Johar had told indianexpress.com, “As a producer or as anyone connected with the film, you do seek solo window. Ant-Man (and The Wasp: Quantumania) has a huge buzz globally. It’s a Marvel film, and they are opening their fifth phase with this film. Marvel fans in India are excited about it and I was taken aback when the film was shifted.”

Going forward, the road towards becoming a hit seems to be a tough one for Shehzada given the negative reviews the film has received. The Indian Express’s film critic Shalini Langer has given the movie half star. A section of her review read, “Even if the film was not called Shehzada, Kartik Aaryan would have made it all come out right. But since it is called that, he does this being both badass and Bawarchi (remember that Rajesh Khanna character who used more than food to make families come together). And Aaryan doesn’t even have to change a hair strand from his usual loud, silly, bedraggled look.”