Bollywood actress Rani Mukerji has returned to the big screens as Shivani Shivaji Roy in Mardaani 3 in what was supposed to be a triumphant affair. Despite high expectations, the film’s performance was subdued. Though, notably the film is the most successful in the Mardaani franchise and despite poor collections by 2026 standards, the film is quietly picking up pace.
Despite being the third movie in a fan-favourite franchise, the film struggled to find any worthwhile footing at theatres within the first three days of release. This is particularly noticeable when measured against the current Bollywood blockbusters like Dhurandhar or Border 2, which are raking in massive collections even now.
The lack of pre-release hype and the overwhelming dominance of Border 2 have clearly taken a toll. While the movie showed slight growth each day, the actual numbers remain low for a project of this profile, raising concerns about its long-term viability in theatres as it heads into the week.
Underwhelming weekend collections
According to data from Sacnilk, Mardaani 3 closed its opening weekend with an estimated India net collection of Rs 17.50 crore. The daily breakdown reveals a sluggish start that the film never quite recovered from, beginning with a modest Rs 4.00 crore on Friday. While it managed to claw upward to Rs 6.25 crore on Saturday, Sunday’s collection reached only Rs 7.25 crore; showing a lack of the aggressive momentum usually seen with hit sequels.
While a total of Rs 17.50 crore is technically being cited as the biggest opening in the franchise, it remains a modest figure by 2026 standards, especially given the film’s reported budget of Rs 30 crores and the current Box Office environment. The Sunday growth was particularly stagnant; for a film of this calibre to be considered a true success, a much larger jump is typically expected on its first weekend peak. Instead, the film saw only a marginal increase from Saturday, suggesting it is struggling to move beyond a limited urban audience.
Low occupancy across theatres in India
The occupancy rates further highlight the film’s struggle to fill seats across the country. On Sunday, the overall Hindi occupancy was a disappointing 33.13%. Even at its peak during evening shows, the film only managed to fill roughly half the theater capacity at 50.23%. The statistics for morning shows were even worse; they were largely ignored by the public with a dismal 12.62% attendance rate.
Regional data confirms that the film is almost entirely dependent on a few major metros to keep its numbers afloat. Mumbai led with a 42.3% occupancy, while the National Capital Region (NCR) saw 33.8% and Bengaluru lagged behind at 27.0%. In contrast, mass circuits and smaller towns showed very little interest, with occupancy in some regions dipping as low as 21%. With Border 2 continuing to devour the majority of the market share, Mardaani 3 appears to be losing the battle for the ‘mass’ audience and risks a significant drop-off as the work week begins.