Akshay Kumar’s highly-anticipated historical courtroom drama Kesari 2 is making a lot of noise even before its release. But will the film finally end the actor’s flop streak? The makers of the film, which also stars Ananya Panday and R Madhavan in pivotal roles, opened its advance booking a few hours ago, and it has already managed to mint Rs 12.65 lakh within just a few hours of opening. The film will build up opening numbers over the next three days.
According to the website Sacnilk, Kesari Chapter 2 has collected Rs 12.65 lakh by selling 4,034 tickets within a few hours of its advance booking going live. However, if we also consider block bookings, the film has sold 1,02,197 tickets within the same duration and minted Rs 1.02 crore. For context, Chhaava’s advance was Rs 13.85 crore while Sikandar made Rs 10.08 crore; both include block bookings, where producers, stars, or entities affiliated with them purchase a large chunk of tickets for their own films.
Kesari 2 currently has 1,969 shows across the country. In the NCR region, where the film has 265 shows, it minted Rs 3.54 lakh in advance booking, while Mumbai’s collection stood at Rs 1.48 lakh. Bengaluru too contributed Rs 1.48 lakh, and in Punjab, the film earned Rs 54.37K in advance ticket sales.
Kesari 2 recently got a special mention from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who recalled the legacy of lawyer and statesman C. Sankaran Nair, on whose life the film is based. The film also received a nod from politicians like Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj, Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa, and Minister Anurag Thakur, all of whom praised the film at a special screening in Delhi.
A spiritual sequel to Kesari (2019), which was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful – minting Rs 207.09 crore at the box office – Kesari 2 now carries the hopes of ending Akshay’s rough box office run. The actor’s last lead roles in films like Sky Force, Khel Khel Mein, Sarfira, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, and Mission Raniganj didn’t result in hits at the box office.
Will Kesari 2 replicate Kesari’s success? Only time will tell.
