The much-hyped action spectacle Dhaakad, starring Kangana Ranaut, has delivered a disappointing performance at the box office. Despite its ambitious scale and being touted as India’s first major female-led spy action film, the movie failed to attract audiences in significant numbers, resulting in one of the year’s most notable commercial setbacks.
Opening Day and Weekend Figures
The film opened on a Friday to a shockingly low occupancy rate across the country. From my observation of trade reports and multiplex footfall data, the opening day collection barely managed to cross the ₹1 crore nett mark in India, a startlingly low figure for a film of this budget and star power. The weekend saw no significant growth, with Saturday and Sunday numbers remaining flat. This indicated a complete lack of positive word-of-mouth, which is crucial for any film’s survival beyond the first showings. The urban centers, which were expected to be its primary market, showed particular indifference.
The Crucial First Week
By Monday, the collections saw a steep decline of over 60%, sealing the film’s fate. The first-week total collection is estimated to have settled at a meager figure, failing to even cover a fraction of its reported high production and marketing costs. I recall tracking the daily updates, and the numbers painted a clear picture of rapid erosion. There was no cushion, no sustained interest from any demographic. Theatres began drastically reducing shows within the first three days itself to accommodate other films with stronger audience pull.
Factors Behind the Low Collection
Several interconnected reasons contributed to this outcome. The film’s aggressive and violent tone, while novel for a female protagonist, seemed to alienate a large section of the traditional movie-going crowd. The marketing, though high on glamour and scale, perhaps failed to communicate a compelling emotional hook beyond the action. Furthermore, the release timing was challenging, with audiences still gravitating towards holdover hits and the general sentiment for high-concept, non-masala films being cautious post-pandemic. The critical reception was largely mixed to negative, which further dampened any curiosity.
Comparative Context and Final Toll
To put it in perspective, Dhaakad‘s lifetime collection is projected to be among the lowest for a major Bollywood star-led film in recent years. The film’s performance stands in stark contrast to the success of other female-centric films that balanced genre elements with stronger narratives and emotional connectivity. The box office journey of Dhaakad serves as a stark reminder that big budgets and bold concepts require equally robust storytelling and character work to resonate with the paying public. The final tally marks it as a clear commercial disaster, with losses running deep for its distributors and investors.