The Taj Story, directed by Tushar Amrish Goel and starring Paresh Rawal, Zakir Hussain, Amruta Khanvilkar, and Namit Das, which released on October 31, has managed to cross the ₹15 crore mark even as momentum for the movie slowed down. The Paresh Rawal-starrer held its own against other releases like Emraan Hashmi and Yami Gautam‘s Haq and The Girlfriend starring Rashmika Mandanna. However, the controversial film saw its steady run at the box office come to an end in the second week of release, with an 81.40% drop in collections on day 11 and a further 57.50% drop on day 12.
Widely labelled by critics as a propaganda film, The Taj Story “follows the life of Vishnu Das, a local guide who becomes driven by curiosity to uncover the true history behind the iconic Taj Mahal monument,” according to a synopsis on BookMyShow. With a 4.09/10 rating on IMDb, the movie has received mostly negative reviews, with criticisms ranging from poor execution to historical revisionism.
The Taj Story’s performance at the Box Office
The Taj Story debuted on the Box Office with a collection of Rs 1 crore on opening day. Day 3 saw the peak of it’s collections with Rs 2.75 crore and earnings fluctuated through week 1. Overall, collections from week 1 amounted to Rs 11 crore. According to industry tracker Sacnilk, earnings picked up during the second weekend as the film raked in Rs 1.75 crore on the second Saturday and Rs 2.15 crore on Sunday. However, momentum for the film seems to have slowed down significantly with a massive 81.40% drop on Monday and a further decline of 57.60% on Tuesday.
On day 12 of The Taj Story at the box office, the movie earned just Rs 17 lakh, bringing total India net collections to Rs 16.37 crore, as per Sacnilk. India gross collections — the amount calculated before deductions and taxes — amounted to Rs 19.34 crore. The movie seems to have performed decently, considering its budget of ₹6–7 crore, as confirmed by actor Paresh Rawal on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). However, despite a nationwide release, poor reviews across the board don’t indicate a very bright future for the film at the box office.
Theatre occupancy on Day 12
On day 12 of The Taj Story, theatre occupancy across the country was meagre. Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Pune, and Ahmedabad had the highest number of shows, with 254 in Mumbai, 239 in the National Capital Region, 109 in Pune, and 102 in Ahmedabad. According to Sacnilk, the film had an overall 6.22% Hindi occupancy in theatres.
Evening and night shows had an astounding 0% occupancy across all the major cities, while morning and afternoon shows managed to bring in the most numbers at 4.94% and 7.49% Hindi occupancy, respectively. Mumbai had an overall occupancy of 8%, while Delhi-NCR had a mere 5.50%. Pune fared slightly better at 6.50%, and Ahmedabad followed with 7% overall occupancy.
