Amidst calls for a boycott against the movie for the writer’s Hinduphobic views, the Akshay Kumar starrer ‘Raksha Bandhan’ failed to make a mark at the box office on its opening day with a single-digit collection. The movie hit the theatres on August 11 this year.
As per reports, the film garnered a paltry sum of ₹7.5 crores on the first day of its release. ‘Raksha Bandhan’ has underperformed compared to movies such as ‘Bachchhan Pandey’ and ‘Samrat Prithviraj’, which too tanked at the box office.
The performance of the film has been dismal in key cities of Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata. ‘Raksha Bandhan’ was made on a budget of over 70 crores but had about 12-15% occupancy in theatres across the country.
Raksha Bandhan box office day 1 collection: Akshay Kumar’s film opens worse than Samrat Prithviraj, Bachchhan Paandeyhttps://t.co/BnbmDQtBBy
— HT Entertainment (@htshowbiz) August 12, 2022
Interestingly, it failed to beat Aamir Khan starrer ‘Lal Singh Chaddha’, which amassed around ₹10-11 crores on its opening day. This was despite the fact that the official ‘Forrest Gump’ remake had been the lowest opening that a Khan movie witnessed in the past 13 years.
It must be mentioned that ‘Raksha Bandhan’ was shrouded in controversy, prior to its release, after several Hinduphobic tweets of its writer Kanika Dhillon had surfaced on social media.
Social media users had also called for a boycott of the movie. They argued that while Dhillon was making money off Hindus, she had been at the forefront of making derogatory remarks against the same community.
Kanika Dhillon and use of Gaumata, Gaumutra jibes
Under the guise of targeting the BJP and PM Modi, she had repeatedly attacked Hindu beliefs and religious sentiments. “Dying in the parking lot after waiting for a hospital bed…Yeh aache din hai! India super power hai! Aur gau mata ka mutra peene see Covid chala jayega (These are the good days…India is a super power. And drinking cow’s urine will cure Covid-19).”
The ‘gaumutra’ jibe has often been used by Islamists and their apologists, including the Pulwama terrorist Ahmed Dhar. He killed the CRPF soldiers as he wanted to avenge those who ‘drink cow urine.’
In several of her tweets, Kanika Dhillon was seen invoking ‘Gau mata’ to take potshots at the ruling dispensation at the Centre.
“Hmm you think one day the cows of India will also be contesting elections? Since they offer more solutions- benefits and protection than our Ministers! Holy cow! Jai Gaiyaa Mayya ki!” she had tweeted.
While labelling Hindustan as ‘Lynchistan’ over isolated cow vigilante attacks, she claimed that the ‘horrifed’ cows are willing to migrate to the United States and tolerate then US President Donald Trump instead of being in India.
The writer of Raksha Bandhan also derided Hindu sentiments by mocking cows while demanding a law against mob lynchings.
