Kartik Aaryan in Chandu Champion. (courtesy: YouTube)
The one-week report card of Chandu Champion is here. Kartik Aaryan's sports drama witnessed a slight dip in its business on the first Thursday. The Kabir Khan directorial on Day 7 minted Rs 2.50 crore at the domestic box office, as per Sacnilk. With this, Chandu Champion's total collection now stands at Rs 35.25 crore, the report added. Based on the extraordinary life of India's first-ever Paralympics gold medallist—Murlikant Petkar—who never gave up, Chandu Champion hit the theatres on June 14. The film also features Vijay Raaz, Rajpal Yadav, Shreyas Talpade, Sonali Kulkarni and Bhuvan Arora in key roles. Chandu Champion is jointly backed by Sajid Nadiadwala, Kabir Khan, and Pen Studios.
Chandu Champion is being praised by the audience and the critics alike. On Thursday, Kartik Aaryan's Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 co-star Vidya Balan gave a big shout-out to the team. Vidya dropped a video on Instagram Stories and said, “Big congratulations to Kartik and Kabir [Khan], and the entire team of Chandu Champion. I think I cannot even imagine what kind of hard work has gone into this film but I felt like it showed in every frame. What a story firstly. Oh my God! So inspiring. I can't imagine that it is someone's actual life story, and they went through so much. It's a very gripping and engaging film. I was glued from the word go. So, if you haven't seen it yet, please do. A big hug to Kartik and more power to you and to all of you who made Chandu Champion. I enjoyed the film.” Read all about it here.
Javed Akhtar also reviewed Kartik Aaryan's performance in Chandu Champion. On Tuesday, the legendary lyricist shared a special post on X (formerly Twitter). Take a look at it here.
In his review for NDTV, film critic Saibal Chatterjee gave Chandu Champion 2.5 out of 5 stars and 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.”