Prabhas and Shraddha Kapoor-starrer Saaho might have been slammed by critics for being a waste of time and money, but the audience seems to have loved the film. The Hindi version of the action thriller earned Rs 14.20 crore on its fourth day, bringing its box office collection since its release on 30 August to Rs 93.28 crore. The numbers were in part aided by the long weekend for Ganesh Chaturthi in parts of India, notes film trade analyst Taran Adarsh.
On Sunday, the third day of its release, the film earned Rs 29.48 crore, making its total box office collection Rs 79.08 crore. According to Adarsh, Saaho “showed big gains on day 3” and the response from north and east India were “exceptional”.
The action flick had a massive global premiere with the Hindi version collecting Rs 24.40 crore on opening day. It held steady on day 2, earning an additional Rs 25.20 crore and bringing its box office collection to Rs 49.60 crore.
Adarsh attributes some of the film’s performance to Prabhas’ elevated reputation among audiences post Baahubali 2 and a sizeable number of advance bookings.
Earlier, the film’s production house UV Creations took to Twitter to announce that Saaho had made Rs 130 crore gross worldwide on its first day.
Directed by Sujeeth, Saaho also stars Chunky Pandey, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Mandira Bedi among others. The film has been accused by critics of lacking substance and failing to live up to its ambitious scale. “Almost three hours long and with a budget of Rs 350 crore, what we have in Saaho is Prabhas with a clear Baahubali hangover doing some lazy action sequences tied together with misogynistic and juvenile writing”, wrote The Quint’s Stutee Ghosh.
Made on a mammoth budget of Rs 350 crore, Saaho simultaneously released in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi on 30 August.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)