Double iSmart box office collection Day 3: In many ways, Double iSmart was pegged to be a strong comeback vehicle for director Puri Jagannadh, who was reuniting with Ram Pothineni for the sequel to iSmart Shankar. There was a wave of support to the film, which was Puri’s first venture after the Vijay Deverakonda-starrer Liger. Although the film opened on Independence Day with a solid Rs 7.35 crore, it had a drastic 80 per cent drop, with Day 2 earning just Rs 1.5 crore. The decline continued as Day 3 collections of Double iSmart, according to trade website Sacnilk, amounted to Rs 1.25 crore taking the nett box-office collection of the film to Rs 10.10 crore. While the mixed reviews could be attributed as one of the reasons for the sharp decline of the returns of the film, heavy competition at a crowded box-office is a factor too. The Independence Day weekend saw films like Mr Bachchan, Vedaa, Stree 2, Thangalaan, Raghu Thatha, and Demonte Colony 2 sharing the audience’s attention, and this has considerably impacted the collection of Double iSmart. ALSO READ: Thangalaan box office collection Day 3: The Vikram-starrer holds its own amidst competition, earns almost Rs 24 crore What truly painted a stark picture of Double iSmart’s performance was the occupancy rates, which was tottering at 19.49 per cent on the first Saturday of its release. This doesn’t bode well for a film that already had a legacy value attached to it due to the success of the first part, and the names involved like Ram Pothineni and Puri Jagannadh. ALSO READ: Mr Bachchan movie review: Ravi Teja, Harish Shankar raid our patience in this uninspired remake of Ajay Devgn’s Raid Double iSmart, which also stars Kavya Thapar and Sanjay Dutt, is a sci-fi film that is also equally a quintessential commercial potboiler. With music by Mani Sharma, Double iSmart is shot by Shyam K Naidu and Gianni Giannelli, and backed by Puri Jagannadh and Charmme Kaur through the banner, Puri Connects.
