Amid intense hype spanning several weeks, Vishal Bhardwaj’s World War II drama Rangoon finally hit the theatres. The Saif Ali Khan-Kangana Ranaut-Shahid Kapoor starrer has garnered immense publicity in the run-up to the release. While it has received mixed reviews from the critics, early reports of box office collections will disappoint the filmmaker.
Shockingly, the occupancy on the opening day has been paltry 10 per cent. Although the film has been released in 1800 screens across the country, it might rake in a little over Rs 4-5 crore. “The occupancy might increase to 50-70 per cent by evening,”Akshay Rathi, a trade expert told Bollywood Life. However, Rathi maintained that a word-of-mouth publicity might swing the tide in Rangoon’s favour.
Since its release, the pre-independence drama has garnered mostly positive reviews. The film has faced criticism owing to its length, i.e three hours and 15 minutes. Nevertheless, the performances of Shahid Kapoor and Kangana Ranaut have been applauded.
Shahid Kapoor in a still from Rangoon (Courtesy: YouTube/T-Series)
Before its release, the film had landed in numerous controversies. After the reported feud between Shahid and Kangana led to endless gossips, the film landing in legal soup garnered a lot of publicity. Wadia Movietone Ltd, a film production company filed a commercial suit alleging that the character of Kangana was inspired from yesteryear actor Mary Ann Evans, popularly known as Fearless Nadia. The company alleged that the makers lifted at least 19 scenes from the film Hunterwali.
It will be interesting to see how the film fares in the upcoming weekend, given the fact that both Jolly LLB 2 and The Ghazi Attack going steady at the box office.
