Gangubai Kathiawadi box office collection day 1: Alia Bhatt film opens at ₹10 cr, actor visits theatre to see response

Gangubai Kathiawadi box office collection on day one was in the range of around 10.50 crore as the film released in theatres across India on Friday.

Gangubai Kathiawadi, starring Alia Bhatt in the titular role, released in theatres across India on Friday. The film is expected to have collected around ₹10.50  crore nett at the domestic box office. In order to witness the response to the film, Alia even visited the Galaxy cinema in Khar late Friday and was seen being mobbed by fans as she greeted them from her car with her Gangubai-style namaste.

Alia Bhatt at Galaxy in Khar after the release of Gangubai Kathiawadi on Friday. (Varinder Chawla)

Film trade analyst Taran Adarsh “#GangubaiKathiawadi surprises on Day 1… Opens higher than #Raazi [pre-Covid release]… While the *industry/trade* was expecting ₹6.25 cr - ₹7.25 cr, the strong word of mouth help biz escalate evening show onwards… Fri ₹10.50 cr. #India biz.” He further added in another tweet, “#Raazi vs #GangubaiKathiawadi: *Day 1* biz… #Raazi: ₹7.53 cr [pre-Covid + 100% occupancy] #GangubaiKathiawadi: ₹10.50 cr [pandemic + 50% occupancy in #Maharashtra]… Note: #Mumbai, #Thane, #Pune, #Gujarat, #Delhi [some locs] are best performers on Day 1. #India biz.”

Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the film was also screened at the Berlin Film Festival ahead of its release. The Hindustan Times review of the film read: ‘Alia puts together quite an impressive show. Her nearly perfect diction, dialect, expressions and how she emotes anger, rage, happiness and helplessness leave you in awe of her screen presence.’

Gangubai Kathiawadi is based on one of the chapters of Hussain Zaidi's book Mafia Queens of Mumbai and shows the evolution of Alia's character from a vulnerable girl forced into sex trade, from where she rises to become a brothel owner and then a matriarch who even wishes to join politics.

Sanjay is all praise for Alia's work in the film. He called Alia's performance in the song Dholida as the shot which he would like to take to his grave. He said at a press conference in Berlin, “She just became one with that character and expressed all her angst and all that she had gone through in that one song. It's a song that I will take to my grave. If there is any shot that I want to be played when I breathe my last – it would be Alia doing that shot because it is completely the best thing that I have seen an actor do in a very, very long time.”