Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan's period piece Kalank opened to make a record but took a downward turn on Thursday, reported trade analyst Taran Adarsh. Kalank raked in a sum of Rs 11 crore on its second day, pushing the total to a little over Rs 33 crore. As per Mr Adarsh, footfalls were expected to dip but not by almost 50 per cent. "Kalank has a fall on Day 2... A decline was on the cards, but the drop is much higher than expected... Will be interesting to see how it fares on Day 3 [Good Friday]... Wed 21.60 cr, Thu 11.45 cr. Total: Rs 33.05 cr. India biz," he tweeted.
Mr Adarsh explained that Kalank is only following the usual trend when movies have mid-week releases on holidays and then have to wait for the weekend to witness a rise in their collections. Kalank released on Wednesday, which coincided with Mahavir Jayanti.
Meanwhile, Kalank's opening day collections of Rs 21.60 crore made it the top film on list of 2019's highest first day collections. Kalank also marked Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan's biggest opening. In his tweet, Taran Adarsh wrote: "Kalank starts with a bang... Emerges biggest opener of 2019 so far... Cineplexes terrific... Impressive cast and hype plus massive screen count (4,000) and Mahavir Jayanti holiday have contributed to a big total... Wednesday India business is Rs. 21.60 crore."
Directed by Abhishek Varman, the ambitious Kalank is set in the pre-independence era of 1945. The film was conceptualised by Karan Johar some 15 years ago and is made on a budget of Rs 150 crore.
The ensemble cast of Kalank also includes Sonakshi Sinha, Aditya Roy Kapur, Madhuri Dixit and Sanjay Dutt.