Vidya Balan in Begum Jaan
Vidya Balan in Begum Jaan

Vidya Balan's Begum Jaan has opened to average response and made a fair collection at the Indian box office on its first day. The film has also failed to surpass the box office collection record of Vidya's previous film Kahaani 2.

Begum Jaan actress Vidya Balan gears up to revive her career; but why did Bollywood's great hope come unstuck?

Begum Jaan was released to moderate occupancy of 25 percent at around 1,100 screens across the domestic market on April 14. Although the movie witnessed a below average response in the morning shows, it was only towards the evening that its business improved.

The film, which is the Hindi adaptation of Bengali film Rajkahini, collected Rs 3.94 crore at the Indian box office on its opening day. "#BegumJaan biz needs to multiply on Sat + Sun to come up with a decent weekend total... Fri ₹ 3.94 cr. India biz," trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted.

Vidya Balan, Begum Jaan
Vidya Balan in Begum JaanTwitter

The Srijit Mukherji directorial has, however, failed to break the opening day box office record of Kahaani 2, which had raked in Rs 4.25 crore at the domestic market.

The movie needs to draw more viewers during the weekend to make a decent collection. However, since Begum Jaan has received mixed reviews from Bollywood critics as well as audience, it may affect the film's overall collection.

Produced by Mukesh Bhatt, the movie is based on true events in the backdrop of Punjab during India's partition in 1947. The original film, Rajkahini, featured Rituparna Sengupta in the lead role and was based in Bengal. It was released in 2015, and won several awards at international film festivals.