Pawan Kalyan’s Ustaad Bhagat Singh is heading toward one of the more disappointing theatrical finishes of his post-pandemic career. Day 12 – the second Monday of its run – has delivered the film’s lowest single-day collection yet, and with numbers showing no signs of recovery, a sub-Rs 100 crore worldwide finish now looks all but certain.
Box office performance
As per Sacnilk, Ustaad Bhagat Singh collected a net of just Rs 0.35 crore on Day 12 – a steep 66% drop from Day 11’s Rs 1.03 crore across 1,058 shows. Overseas contributed a negligible Rs 0.03 crore on the day. The total India net now stands at Rs 70.29 crore, India gross at Rs 82.60 crore, and worldwide gross at Rs 94.38 crore.
According to Sacnilk, the film is now firmly on course for a worldwide finish below Rs 100 crore – a significant blow for a Pawan Kalyan starrer that had a break-even target of Rs 200 crore gross at the worldwide box office.
To put that in context, every one of the actor’s post-pandemic releases crossed the Rs 100 crore mark – Vakeel Saab (Rs 137.50 crore), Bheemla Nayak (Rs 158.50 crore), Bro (Rs 114 crore), and Hari Hara Veera Mallu (Rs 117 crore). As per Sacnilk, Ustaad Bhagat Singh is on track to finish below all of them, making it his lowest-grossing film in the post-pandemic era.
The primary culprit, has been the overwhelming dominance of Dhurandhar: The Revenge, which has captured audience attention and screen space across the country – including in the Telugu states, which are Ustaad Bhagat Singh’s core market.
The decision to advance the release of the film, from March 26 to March 19, put it in direct competition with Ranveer Singh’s blockbuster, has been widely cited as a critical miscalculation.
Theatre occupancy
The occupancy numbers on Day 12 paint an equally bleak picture. As per Sacnilk, overall occupancy for Telugu 2D shows stood at just 14.55% – with morning shows at 9.55%, afternoon at 13.73%, evening at 17.09%, and night at 13.09%.
City-wise, as per Sacnilk, Chennai led all regions with 25% occupancy across just 3 shows, followed by Guntur at 23.3% across 27 shows and Warangal at 23% across 7 shows.
Hyderabad – the film’s most important market – registered 18.8% across 121 shows. Bengaluru came in at 15.5% across 33 shows, Vizag-Visakhapatnam at 14.5% across 48 shows, and Karimnagar at 14.8% across 8 shows. Vijayawada recorded just 9% across 49 shows, Kakinada 12% across 27 shows, and Nizamabad a near-empty 4.3% across 12 shows. Mumbai, with just one show, recorded 0% occupancy.
For a film that opened with 69% occupancy on Day 1, the freefall to 14.55% by Day 12 tells the full story of how quickly audience interest evaporated – and how comprehensively Dhurandhar: The Revenge has dominated this theatrical window.