Despite receiving promising reviews, Kesari Chapter 2, starring Akshay Kumar, has struggled to translate that acclaim into box office success. Except for a strong showing on its opening Sunday, the film has remained stagnant in single-digit collections. On Wednesday, it earned Rs 3.2 crore, bringing its nett domestic total to Rs 42.2 crore, according to industry tracker Sacnilk.
The film saw a slight increase in collections on Tuesday, making around Rs 5 crore, likely due to reduced ticket prices. However, it appears that Kesari 2 will not be the film that revives Akshay’s streak of consecutive flops. It began its box office journey with an opening of Rs 7.75 crore, and even after six days, it has yet to surpass the Rs 50 crore mark.In contrast, Akshay’s previous release, Sky Force, which also featured Veer Pahariya, grossed Rs 113 crore in India after a month in theaters, as reported by Sacnilk. At this stage, it seems highly unlikely that Kesari 2 will reach that figure.
After six days, Sky Force had already amassed Rs 81 crore, nearly double that of Kesari 2.Trade analyst Komal Nahta has raised concerns about the film’s reported earnings, alleging that the makers engaged in block bookings. He stated, “The total for the first week was Rs 40.50 crore. The records may show total collections of Rs 80 crore, but that’s because heavy block booking of unsold tickets was done each day during the first week to create the illusion of extraordinary performance at the box office.”Kesari 2 is set to face tough competition from Rajkumar Gupta’s thriller Raid 2, starring Ajay Devgn, Vaani Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh, and Saurabh Shukla, which is scheduled for release on May 1.
Directed by debut filmmaker Karan Singh Tyagi and produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, Kesari 2 serves as a spiritual sequel to Anurag Singh’s successful historical war drama Kesari, also featuring Akshay Kumar. The sequel tells the true story of lawyer C Sankaran Nair, who fought a legal battle against the British Empire in the 1920s.
