Punjabi movies rock the box office even as Bollywood films struggle to bring audiences to the theatres

New Delhi, September 21, 2021

Amid below-average footfalls in theatres for Hindi films Bell Bottom and Chehre and the multi-lingual film Thalaivii, Punjabi films have been recording a decent run at the box office.

Punjabi films Puaada, Chal Mera Putt 2 and Yaar Anmulle Returns have been rocking the box office in India even as the Covid restrictions in theatres and closure of cinema halls in Maharashtra impact theatrical revenues of Bollywood films.

Yaar Anmulle Returns, which released in cinemas last Friday, recorded a decent run at the box office in India, earning Rs 1.5 crore in its opening despite the film releasing on limited screens in Delhi and Punjab.

Directed by Harry Bhatti and produced by Amandeep Sihag, Adamya Singh, Amandeep Singh, Mithu Jhajhra, Dr. Varun Malik and Pankaj Dhaka, Yaar Anmulle Returns stars Harish Verma, Yuvraj Hans and Prabh Gill.

This is the third film in the series after Yaar Annmulle and Yaar Annmulle 2.

Earlier, the comedy-drama Chal Mera Putt 2 had an above-average run at the box office, earning Rs 15 crore in four weeks, despite its release being limited to cinema halls in Delhi and Punjab.

Chal Mera Putt 2 has already created a record for the highest collections of a Punjabi film in the overseas markets at $ 4 million.

Directed by Janjot Singh, Chal Mera Putt 2, a sequel to 2019 film Chal Mera Putt, is the story of Punjabis trying hard to make a living in a foreign land.

The film, produced by Karaj Gill under Rhythm Boyz Entertainment and by Ashu Munish Sahni under Omjee Star Studios, stars Amrinder Gill, Simi Chahal, and Garry Sandhu in lead roles and Iftikhar Thakur, Nasir Chinyoti, Akram Udas, Zafri Khan, Gurshabad, Hardeep Gill, Nirmal Rishi, and Ruby Anam in supporting roles.

Puaada too earned Rs 7.6 crore in gross revenues at the end of its third weekend in India. The film has grossed Rs 8.6 crore in the overseas markets, Including Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom at the end of its third weekend, taking its worldwide gross to Rs 16.2 crore.

Puaada features the popular pair of Ammy Virk and Sonam Bajwa.

A bulk of the collections of Puaada and Chal Mera Putt 2 have come from oversees markets like Canada and the United Kingdom.

The collections of the film came despite these films releasing on limited screens in India and overseas.

This week's Punjabi release Qismat 2 has got an encouraging advance booking.

In contrast to this is the average run for the Bollywood big starrers Bell Bottom and Chehre.

Despite a tremendous buzz surrounding Bell Bottom and the film being released to nearly 1,000 cinema screens, the film earned Rs 30 crore in four weeks

Chehre, the second big starrer to release in cinemas after Bell Bottom , too opened to average collections, earning Rs 2.75 crore in its opening week, despite being released on 800 screens across India.

The multilingual film Thalaivii, based on the life of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, earned Rs 4.75 crore in its opening weekend despite being released in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions across India.

The less than expected box office earnings for the three films have been attributed to the theatres across India operating at just 50 percent occupancy as well as to the closure of cinema halls in Maharashtra, which forms a big market for Hindi films.

The above average earnings of the Punjabi films shows that audiences are slowly coming back to the cinemas after the long shutdown of theatres post the pandemic.

NNN