Kartik Aaryan‘s Shehzada has got off to a shaky start at the box office. After making ₹6 crore on its first day, the Hindi film has matched the numbers with ₹6 crore on its second day as well, according to industry tracker Sacnilk. However, Shehzada hasn’t seen much growth this weekend and needs to have a good Sunday to make any impact at the box office. Directed by Rohit Dhawan, the film is a remake of the 2020 Telugu film Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo starring Allu Arjun.
The lead actor’s previous film, Freddy (2022), released on Disney+ Hotstar in December and his earlier film, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (2022) was a blockbuster hit, earning over ₹180 crore at the box office. The expectations were high with his latest release.
The producers also implemented a buy one, get one free ticket scheme which hasn’t been received as well as they would have hoped. Trade analysts feel the Hindi remake could earn less than ₹20 crore which would be surprising. Shehzada faces competition from Pathaan, which is still going strong at the box office, and the new Hollywood release, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
The Marvel sequel, starring Paul Rudd and Jonathan Majors, earned ₹8.50 crore, according to the trade website Box Office India. Shehzada was originally supposed to release on February 10 and was moved back to February 17 to avoid clashing with Pathaan. Directed by Siddharth Anand, the film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham. In less than a month, Pathaan has already made more than ₹500 crore in India.
The actor, who is also producer on the film, heavily promoted the film in the days up to its release. He and co-star Kriti Sanon toured the country and met with fans at colleges, malls and other promotional events. Shehzada also stars Paresh Rawal, Manisha Koirala, Rajpal Yadav, Ronit Roy and Sachin Khedekar.
Another factor that may have worked against the release of Shehzada is that many viewers may have already watched the original Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo. The Hindi dubbed version of the Allu Arjun-starrer is also available to watch on YouTube for free.
