Ranveer Singh starrer 83, which marks the magnificent underdog story of the Indian Cricket Team clinching the 1983 Cricket World Cup, released worldwide on the 24th of December to generally positive reviews. The film was appreciated by most, for its authentic story-telling and for the stellar performance that Ranveer Singh delivered by playing Kapil Dev. The film, however, had a dismal opening at the Indian Box office as it could only collect nett Rs. 11.96cr on its opening day. The film saw growth on Saturday and Sunday but it wasn’t really encouraging as it could just manage a nett of Rs. 16cr on Saturday and a nett of Rs. 17cr on Sunday, to pack the first weekend of Rs 45cr for its Hindi version. The dubbed versions of the film added another Rs. 2cr nett to take the tally to Rs. 47cr nett.
The Monday numbers were very crucial for the film to show where the film is headed. The film could only manage a paltry Rs. 7cr nett on its fourth day while it had to ideally score in excess of Rs. 10cr on its Monday to have a steady run at low levels, at the box office. The four-day Hindi nett is Rs. 52cr while the tally including the dubbed versions is Rs. 54.5cr. Made on a steep budget of Rs. 280cr, the film had to have theatrical returns in the vicinity of Rs. 150cr to see greens. The film has only been able to manage a worldwide share of Rs. 40cr and the film is heading to be the biggest theatrical disaster in recent times.
Things won’t get any easy for 83 as theatres have been ordered to shut down in the Delhi-NCR region. It is expected that soon, other states will go into lockdown too. The Omicron variant of Covid-19 scalped its first victim in the form of Shahid Kapoor starrer Jersey as it had to defer its 31st December 2021 release to a further date. The release calendar of Bollywood films will see further altercations owing to the uncertainties of the theatrical medium.
The day-wise nett box office collections of 83 (Hindi Version) are as follows:-
Day 1 – Rs. 11.96cr
Day 2 – Rs. 16cr
Day 3 – Rs. 17cr
Day 4 – Rs.7cr
Total: Rs. 52cr
What do you think is the reason behind the underperformance of 83 in India?