Article 370 box office collection day 1: Yami Gautam’s controversial film takes off with Rs 5.7 crore debut, makes most of discounted ticket prices

Article 370 box office collection day 1: Yami Gautam’s controversial film takes off with Rs 5.7 crore debut, makes most of discounted ticket prices

The Yami Gautam-starrer Article 370 was released in theatres on February 23. Produced by  Uri: The Surgical Strike director Aditya Dhar, the film also stars Arun Govil and Priyamani in pivotal roles. According to industry tracker Sacnilk, Article 370 minted Rs 5.75 crore on the opening day. The film had an overall 42.8 percent Hindi occupancy on Friday. Article 370 is directed by Aditya Suhas Jambhale.

Jaipur recorded the highest Hindi occupancy, followed by Pune, Delhi-NCR and Chennai. Most theatres were running a special discount for the film, which might have helped increase sales for Article 370. In the movie, Yami plays the role of an intelligence officer. The story focuses on the politically charged abrogation of Article 370, which revoked the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir.

Article 370 clashed with the Vidyut Jammwal-starrer action film Crakk at the box office. Also starring Nora Fatehi and Arjun Rampal, Crakk collected Rs 4 crore on the first day. Article 370’s opening day figures are only marginally lower than the day one collections of the recent Shahid Kapoor-starrer Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, which made Rs 6.7 crore on opening day, and has since earned Rs 66 crore in India. The political thriller can most accurately be compared to the similarly themed recent films The Kashmir Files, which made Rs 3.5 crore on day one, and Uri itself. Uri made Rs 8.2 crore on opening day, and concluded its theatrical run with over Rs 350 crore worldwide. Both The Kashmir Files and Uri were word-of-mouth hits, and Article 370’s reviews suggest that it could also build momentum over the weekend.

Yami was last seen in Akshay Kumar and Pankaj Tripathi-starrer OMG 2. Arun Govil was also a part of the film, which collected more than Rs 150 crore in India. Yami was also seen in Netflix’s Chor Nikal ke Bhaga opposite Sunny Kaushal. It’s one of the streamer’s biggest Indian originals.

Article 370’s release coincides with the upcoming General Elections, adding to the public’s interest in the film. In an interview with Indian Express, Aditya had opened up about people calling the film ‘agenda driven.’ The filmmaker said, “The community who feels that it is an agenda-driven film without watching it, I really don’t care about them because I think they are people who have already made their judgement and the agenda is actually in their head.  They made a judgement without actually even seeing the film, so I can’t do anything about that.”

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