Gangubai Kathiawadi Day 2 Box Office Collection: Alia Bhatt's Film Mints Good Numbers

After four years, Sanjay Leela Bhansali is back with a bang with his latest release Gangubai Kathiawadi featuring Alia Bhatt in the titular role. The period drama based on one of the chapters from Hussain Zaidi-Jane Borges' popular novel 'Mafia Queens Of Mumbai' tells the story of a simple girl from Kathiawadi who goes on to become one of the most powerful brothel madams in Kamathipura's red light areas in Mumbai in the 60s.

Gangubai Kathiawadi started its box office journey with a bang on Friday as it surpassed the trade analysts' expectations and collected an impressive opening of Rs 10.50 crore nett. According to reports, the film opened to mixed reviews but picked up business in the evening shows with positive word of mouth.

The opening collection of Gangubai Kathiawadi is higher than that of one of Alia's earlier solo movies Raazi (Rs 7.53 crore). After Akshay Kumar-Katrina Kaif's Sooryavanshi and Ranveer Singh-starrer 83, this Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial is the third highest grossing Bollywood film in pandemic times.

Talking about its performance at the box office on Saturday (Day 2), the film minted Rs 13.32 crore. The total two-day box office collection now stands at Rs 23.82 crore.

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted, "#GangubaiKathiawadi witnesses super growth on Day 2... Tier-2 cities - which weren't too strong on Day 1 - join the party on Day 2... Strong word of mouth has come into play, hence expect bigger numbers on Day 3... Fri 10.50 cr, Sat 13.32 cr. Total: ₹ 23.82 cr. #India biz."

Gangubai Kathiawadi is Sanjay Leela Bhansali's first collaboration with Alia Bhatt. The director-actor duo was previously supposed to team up for Inshallah which also starred superstar Salman Khan. However, that project got shelved due to unknown reasons and Bhansali offered Gangubai Kathiawadi to Alia.

Alia had earlier opened up on her reaction when she was offered this film and said in an interview with deadline.com, "My first reaction was shock, it was a complete genre shift - this was a hard-hitting, almost gangster-like character that I had to play. My second reaction was acceptance that he wanted me to play the part. In that particular moment I was doubtful I would be able to pull it off, it's extremely intense and away from the person I am and the life I've seen, from anything I've experienced. But he had that vision so clearly, I had to go with that experience, who was I to question it?"