Raksha Bandhan Day 1 Box Office Collection: A Slow Start For Akshay Kumar's Film

This Raksha Bandhan saw two of Bollywood's biggest superstars Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar locking horns at the box office with their respective films, Laal Singh Chaddha and Raksha Bandhan.

Speaking about Raksha Bandhan, the film marks Akshay's second collaboration with director Aanand L Rai after the 2021 film Atrangi Re. The family drama revolves around Akshay Kumar's character Kedarnath's relationship with his four sisters and how he struggles to get them hitched.

Despite a superstar like Akshay Kumar headlining the film, the advanced booking for Raksha Bandhan were below expectations. Upon its release, Raksha Bandhan received not-so-favourable reviews from the critics with flak for its regressive story telling.

Having said that, the Aanand L Rai directorial fared slightly better in the hinderlands as compared to the urban centres. With the mass dominated Hindi belts preferring Raksha Bandhan over the other release Laal Singh Chaddha, the film is highly relying on spot bookings for a respectable weekend total.

Akshay Kumar's latest outing Raksha Bandhan minted Rs 8.20 Crore on Day 1.

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted, "#RakshaBandhan has a disappointing start on Day 1... Mass circuits perform better [good occupancy in evening shows], but metros are extremely weak... Biz needs to grow/jump from Fri-Sun to improve its prospects... Thu ₹ 8.20 cr. #India biz."

Earlier, in an interview with The National, Akshay Kumar had called Raksha Bandhan his best film ever. He was quoted as saying, "It's been so long that anybody has tried to make a film on siblings, or a brother and sister relationship. And it's a very special film. All I heard was the beginning of the film, the interval point and the end of the film, and I could totally relate to it. So, I decided I wanted to do it."

Besides Akshay Kumar, Raksha Bandhan also stars Bhumi Pednekar, Sadia Khateeb, Deepika Khanna, Smrithi Shrikanth and Sahejmeen Kaur.