Producer-actor Emraan Hashmi’s Why Cheat India has turned out to be a disaster at the box office, collecting a paltry Rs8.50 crore nett in its first week, as reported by Boxofficeindia.com.
Why Cheat India’s fate was sealed when it made barely Rs5.75 crore nett in the opening weekend. The film only slid further in the week, collecting Rs2.75 crore nett in four days.
Why Cheat India has turned out to be Hashmi’s most poor film in the last decade, barring Rush (2012) that made a paltry Rs3.21 crore in the first week. Rush (2012) was made at an estimated budget of Rs18 crore and it was released in 800 screens. Why Cheat India was released in 1,200 screens and its estimated budget is Rs27 crore.
Co-produced by Hashmi, T-Series and Ellipsis Entertainment, Why Cheat India is based on true events, telling the story of Rakesh Singh, the mastermind of a nationwide education scam.
Other releases from last week — Bombairiya, Rangeela Raja and Fraud Saiyaan — were a total washout.
And so, it was the holdover release Uri: The Surgical Strike that drove the box office. The action thriller, starring Vicky Kaushal, made an impressive Rs62.25 crore nett in the second week, to take its India total so far to Rs133.49 crore nett.
Produced by RSVP, Uri was initially released in 2,200 screens. The film’s estimated budget is Rs28 crore.
Meanwhile, Ranveer Singh-starrer Simmba, which was released on 28 December 2018, is about to complete its dream run. The film, directed by Rohit Shetty, made Rs6.25 crore nett in its fourth week. Simmba is unlikely to touch the Rs250-crore mark as its business slowed down considerably in the fourth week. The action drama has Rs238.21 crore nett in its domestic business kitty so far.
Kangana Ranaut-starrer Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi and Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer Thackery have hit the screens today and are likely to get over 4,000 screens between them. And so Simmba will likely slip further while, Uri’s run is also likely to slow down.