Kartik Aaryan's Chandu Champion has finally breached the ₹30 crore-mark at the box office. On Day 6, the film, directed by Kabir Khan, minted ₹3 crore at the domestic box office, as per Sacnilk. After the film's business on its first Wednesday in theatres, Chandu Champion's total collection now stands at ₹32.75 crore, the report added. The biopic, which hit the theatres on June 14, is based on the life of India's first-ever Paralympics gold medallist Murlikant Petkar. He won an individual gold medal at the 1972 Summer Paralympics in Heidelberg, Germany. Chandu Champion has been jointly backed by Kabir Khan, Sajid Nadiadwala and Pen Studios.
Chandu Champion marks Kartik Aaryan's first collaboration with Kabir Khan. Earlier, in a conversation with news agency IANS, the Chandu Champion director revealed why he chose Kartik for Murlikant Petkar's role. Kabir Khan said, “When I was writing the script of 'Chandu'... obviously when you are writing the script, you have an image in your mind. And that image, that character, has an age, personality, attitude... So, when you have these pointers, the next step is to identify which actor can embody all these characteristics. Very strongly, I felt those characteristics in Kartik Aaryan.”
Kabir Khan continued, “We have never worked before, not even met properly. Then we had a meeting for around 2.5 hours, during which we had a lot of conversations about the film. As a director, during our talks, it's my job to gauge whether he is the right fit for this character. A director's gut instinct is very strong. After that 2.5-hour meeting with him, I was very clear that Kartik would be the Chandu Champion.”
In his review for NDTV, film critic Saibal Chatterjee gave Chandu Champion 2.5 out of 5 stars. He wrote, “Chandu Champion might have worked better than it does had the cinematic enactment been a touch less melodramatic and a little more realistic. To be fair, however, Chandu Champion is pacy and enjoyable. It wastes no time in hitting its straps. Such was the nature of the life that it brings to the screen that it has no time to pause for breath. With the lead actor getting into the swing of things with all his might, the exercise isn't weighed down as other such films are by the cliched tropes of the underdog drama.”
Talking about Kartik Aaryan's performance, Saibal Chatterjee wrote, “Kartik Aaryan sheds his free-spirited gadabout cloak and gets into the skin of a character that makes a slew of demands on the actor. Aaryan gives the physically exacting role all he has and pulls off a career-best performance.”
Up next, Kartik Aaryan will be seen in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Aashiqui 3.