Bandar box office collection day 5: Anurag Kashyap’s Bandar is still looking dim at the box office. The director presented Bobby Deol in his grittiest avatar in the film, which released in theatres last Friday. While Bandar earned positive reviews from critics and sections of the audience upon release, that appreciation has not translated into box office numbers.
Bandar shows no growth
The latest update from Sacnilk states that Bandar has managed to collect a mere ₹33 lakh on its 5th day of release. There is barely any growth from the ₹30 lakh haul on Monday. The highest single-day haul for the film is at ₹1 crore, which it collected on Sunday. This brings the total India gross collections to ₹3.63 crore and the total India net to ₹3.08 crore so far.
Bandar is a gritty, character-driven film with its own niche audience, so it was not expected to open to big numbers in the first place. Positive word of mouth on social media is always helpful, and Bandar is fortunate to have it. However, Bandar is facing stiff competition from a number of other releases, including Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai, Hollywood release Obsession, and Ram Charan-starrer Telugu film Peddi.
About Bandar
The story, drawing heavily from a real-life case involving a popular actor, revolves around Samar, a singer-actor whose career is on the decline. His life takes a shocking turn when he is suddenly arrested after a woman named Gayatri (Sapna Pabbi) files a rape complaint against him. What follows is a legal circus, with Samar, the ‘bandar’, forced to navigate one hurdle after another, even as he says there was consent. As the case gathers momentum, his personal life begins to fall apart, leaving him trapped in a system that appears to have already made up its mind.
Anurag had shared his experience of working with Bobby in an interview with Sudhir Srinivasan on his YouTube channel last year in August. “A complete surrender for somebody who’s been a star for the longest period of his time, then he has seen a total lull, and then when he’s getting all kinds of big mainstream movies, he picks Bandar and says, ‘I want to do it.’ Because he’s thinking, ‘I’ve never been asked to just be vulnerable.’ He’s so vulnerable in the film, so emotionally naked. Every single scene he has performed is with such fantastic actors. Bandar is full of theatre actors, great actors from all languages, five National Award winners,” he said.