‘Munjya’ vs ‘Kalki’ at box office: Director says ‘massive but Rs 100 crore possible’
‘Munjya’ has emerged as a surprise hit at the box office. The Aditya Sarpotdar directorial has crossed the Rs 100 crore gross mark at the worldwide box office but is yet to do the same in India.
In an interview with India Today, the director spoke about the possibility of ‘Munjya’ surpassing the Rs 100 crore mark at the box office despite the grand release of ‘Kalki 2898 AD’. He called the task difficult but not impossible.
‘Munjya’ stars Sharvari Wagh, Mona Singh and Abhay Verma in the lead roles. It opened on a decent note, but the numbers grew as the positive word-of-mouth circulated on social media. The director called the same word-of-mouth his biggest strength. He said his film has been accepted and appreciated by the audience because of its rooted narrative and that will help ‘Munjya’ to withstand the ‘Kalki’ storm at the box office.
Aditya also acknowledged that the Prabhas-starrer is a “massive” film. He said, “‘Kalki’ will definitely make the task difficult. It’s a massive film, and it will definitely eat into our numbers. However, our film is set on a very different path. Even if ‘Kalki’ makes a great opening, it still depends on word-of-mouth for it to bring in great numbers in the long run. I think ‘Munjya’ will still manage to cross Rs 100 crore nett in India. It collected Rs 89 crore nett in India by Wednesday and an additional Rs 11 crore shouldn’t be difficult even with ‘Kalki’ releasing on Thursday.”
‘Kalki 2898 AD’ has recorded solid advance sales. The Nag Ashwin directorial is riding high on its star value and the novelty of a new genre. It combines science-fiction with Indian mythology and that seems to have appealed to the audience. The film has already sold over 1 million tickets in India alone and is targeting an opening of Rs 180-200 crore gross worldwide. ‘Munjya’ and ‘Chandu Champion’, which are currently running in theatres, are expected to be drastically affected by the release of ‘Kalki 2898 AD’.