Despite receiving positive reviews, Kartik Aaryan’s Chandu Champion has turned out to be his lowest opening film in years. The inspirational sports biopic, based on the life of India’s first Paralympics gold medalist Murlikant Petkar, is directed by filmmaker Kabir Khan, who remains best known for the blockbusters Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Ek Tha Tiger. The filmmaker was coming off of two back-to-back box office under-performers, Tubelight and 83.
According to early estimates shared by industry tracking website Sacnilk, Chandu Champion raked in around Rs 4.75 crore on its opening day. This is the lowest opening for a Kartik Aaryan film since 2015’s Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2, which is considered his breakout hit. It’s also around half of what his last theatrical release, Satyaprem Ki Katha, earned on its opening day last year – Rs 8.25 crore. Kartik’s first film post-pandemic, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, had raked in Rs 14.11 crore on its opening day, eventually making Rs 265.5 crore globally.
Chandu Champion observed an overall occupancy of 16.84 percent, even though tickets were sold at Rs 150 on Friday. In Mumbai, where there were 723 shows, the occupancy was 19.25 percent. In Delhi and NCR, the occupancy was 19.50 percent with 870 shows.
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The poor opening of the film also continues Kabir Khan’s disappointing run. His last directorial was Ranveer Singh’s 83, which opened with Rs 12.64 crore before having its run cut short by a new wave of the pandemic. The film made a total of Rs 193 crore globally in its lifetime run in cinemas. Kabir Khan has earlier helmed films like Salman Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Ek Tha Tiger and Tubelight, among others. The Indian Express’ Shubhra Gupta gave Chandu Champion a two-and-a-half-star rating and wrote, “Kartik Aaryan makes you root for his character even though Kabir Khan’s film falls into declarative, underlined patches.”
Chandu Champion was promoted widely, and is expected to face competition from the sleeper hit supernatural thriller Munjya, which continues to attract the audiences. On its eighth day of release, the film earned around a crore less that Kartik’s film (Rs 3.35 crore). Munjya, despite limited promotions and no major stars, had made Rs 4 crore on day one.
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