Despite getting embroiled in controversies, Manikarnika managed to cross Rs 50 crore in just 5 days of its release in theatres and has clearly swept away Thackeray at the box office. While Manikarnika took us back to the 18th century era to narrate the inspiring story of the warrior queen Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi played by Kangana Ranaut, Thackeray gave viewers a glimpse into the life of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
After enjoying a fruitful opening weekend, Kangana Ranaut's film maitained its good hold on Monday as well. The movie, however, has underperformed considering the big budget involved in the making of the film. The movie has mainly performed well in the Northern states of India like Delhi, NCR, Rajasthan, Punjab and UP.
Manikarnika took off to a decent start at the box office on Friday but showed a massive growth in its collection on Saturday and Sunday thanks to the Republic Day holiday and earned Rs 42.55 crore in the opening weekend. It passed the Monday litmus test as well by earning Rs 5.10 crore followed by minting Rs 4.75 crore on Tuesday. On Wednesday too, Kangana's film managed to get good footfalls and earned upto Rs 4.50 crore on day 6 taking the total box office collections to Rs 56.90 crore.
"#Manikarnika shows solid trending on weekdays... ₹ 60 cr [+/-] total [Week 1] is excellent... #RepublicDay holiday contributed majorly... Fri 8.75 cr, Sat 18.10 cr, Sun 15.70 cr, Mon 5.10 cr, Tue 4.75 cr, Wed 4.50 cr. Total: ₹ 56.90 cr. India biz. #Hindi #Tamil #Telugu," Taran Adarsh tweeted.
Whereas Thackeray hasn't been able to compete against Manikarnika in terms of its box office numbers. While the Hindi version of Thackeray has been struggling to find audience in theatres, it's Marathi version is a hit in Maharashtra. On day 6, the movie managed to collect Rs 1.75 crore.
To be called a hit, Manikarnika will have to earn upto Rs 120 crore in the days to come and despite riding high on strong word of mouth, it looks like its road to glory is being paved with thorns. The film's collections may slow down in the second week due to new movie releases of which one of them is Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga starring Sonam Kapoor, Anil Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao in the lead.
However, the ongoing war of words between director Krish Jagarlamudi and Kangana Ranaut may give a slight boost to Manikarnika collections as the controversy may tempt audience to watch the movie to find out the truth.
Both the films had received mixed reviews from critics and but the love of audience helped these two films sail through the box office storm.
