Randeep Hooda’s directorial venture Swatantrya Veer Savarkar has failed to create expected buzz at the ticket windows. The film has managed to cross a million-dollar collections in a week in India. Globally, the film fell short of $2 million and stood at $1.8 million gross collections. Hooda plays the lead role of Indian leader Savarkar in the movie which he also wrote and directed.
According to the producers, ZEE Studios, Swatantrya Veer Savarkar made an opening collection of $150,000 in India and a little less than $200,000 worldwide. Despite being labelled as a propaganda film, Swatantrya Veer Savarkar opened to mostly good reviews and a good word-of-mouth helped the collections soar over the weekend. By the second day, Hooda’s film made a little less than $500,000 in India and managed to cross that mark globally. The first weekend worldwide collection for the movie stood near $950,000.
Swatantrya Veer Savarkar marks Hooda’s debut as a director. He has previously worked as an actor in several critically and commercially acclaimed films including Salman Khan’s Kick, Imtiaz Ali’s Highway, Rang Rasiya and Sarbjit, among many others. His powerful acting is backed in the new film by a cast that includes Amit Sial, Rajesh Khera, Brajesh Jha, Mrinal Dutt, and Ankita Lokhande.
Swatantrya Veer Savarkar is widely being criticized for presenting a biased and limited view of the pre-Independence era in India. The politics of the film apart, it also fails to come together as an engaging narrative. The choppiness of the incidents being thrown at the audience, and the abrupt monologues mar any sense of being engrossed in a story. The film, nonetheless, addresses many points that form debates around the controversial figure that Savarkar remains in the Indian society. The film can be a good starting point for anyone interested in this part of Indian history – it does not give many answers but gives several pointers that can be taken ahead for further exploration.
Another Hindi film released in theatres on March 22 – Kunal Kemmu’s directorial Madgaon Express. Featuring Kemmu in a special role, the film scored $200,000 on the first day of its release at the global ticket windows. The collections doubled on the second day taking the total to nearly $600,000. The first weekend collection for the film stood at $1.2 million. By the end of the first week, Madgaon Express has earned $2.5 million at the global ticket windows.
Kemmu also makes his directorial debut with Madgaon Express. The film is a fun, slapstick comedy that traces the lives of three childhood friends who go on a trip to Goa (India) only to land in a series of troubles. Featuring Divyendu, Pratik Gandhi, Avinash Tiwary, Nora Fatehi and Chaya Kadam in important roles, the film is produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani under their production banner Excel Entertainment.
Meanwhile, two other Hindi films continue to attract audiences to the theatres. Ajay Devgn-R Madhavan-Jyothika-starrer Shaitaan has earned more than $23.5 million in three weeks while Yami Gautam’s Article 370 collected $13.2 million in five weeks at the ticket windows.