Samantha Ruth Prabhu's Shaakuntalam, which is inspired by Kalidasa's play Abhijnanashakuntalam, released in the theaters on Friday to a mixed response. The mythological drama, helmed by Gunasekhar, didn't draw huge crowds on its first day and earned Rs 3.5 crore across all languages, as per industry tracker Sacnilk. Shaakuntalam got an overall occupancy of 32.60% in the Telugu states. The film has Samantha in the titular role of Shakuntala and actor Dev Mohan plays Dushyanta, the king of the Puru Dynasty. Now, to maintain a steady run in the cinema halls in the coming week, Shaakuntalam must pick up pace during the weekend. Samantha's previous release Yashoda started off with approximately Rs 3 crore at the box office and ended its first weekend run with Rs 10 crore nett at the box office. The film's lifetime collection in India was around Rs 20 crore. When compared to that, Shaakunatalam's future looks slightly more promising. From the look of its trailer, Shaakuntalam is seemingly made on an enormous budget. It also stars an ensemble cast including actors Mohan Babu, Allu Arha, Aditi Balan, Gautami, Sachin Khedekar, and Ananya Nagalla. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Samantha (@samantharuthprabhuoffl) Indianexpress.com's Raghu Bandi wrote in the review of the film, "Dil Raju and Gunasekhar must be appreciated for taking interest in bringing such ancient literature to the screen again. The only letdown is this particular subject is hardly the right material for the current generation. Perhaps the original Mahabharata version of an assertive woman was a better fit."
