Aamir Khan’s latest film ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ has shown a very poor performance at the box office on its opening day, 11th August 2022. As a result of a low turnout and cancelled shows on the first day, the exhibitors have decided to reduce 1300 shows of the film on Friday 12th August 2022 when the actual weekend starts.
SHOCKING: 1,300 shows of #LaalSinghChaddha REDUCED by exhibitors on Friday after a low turnout and cancelled showshttps://t.co/z4siEoPZfL
— BollyHungama (@Bollyhungama) August 12, 2022
It is notable that Aamir Khan’s film was released on the occasion of the Hindu festival Raksha Bandhan and the release date followed a long weekend as independence day falls on Monday this year. But rather than getting any advantage of the long weekend at the box office, the exhibitors are forced to reduce the number of shows of ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ right when the weekend begins. Akshay Kumar’s film ‘Raksha Bandhan’ was also released on the same day. But it has also performed equally bad.
According to a report by Bollywood Hungama, on August 11, the two films, ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ and ‘Raksha Bandhan’, had a lacklustre opening at the box office. The two films together failed to gross a total of Rs. 20 crores on their first day, unable to capitalize on the Raksha Bandhan holiday. The opening day performance stunned the Hindi film industry and left the business in disarray.
The collection on the first day of the Aamir Khan starrer movie Laal Singh Chaddha is reported to be Rs 10-11 crores. It is reported to be the lowest opening that an Aamir Khan movie has seen in the past 13 years.
Due to the dismal performance at the box office, the theatre operators have proactively decreased the screenings of both ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ and ‘Raksha Bandhan’. A trade source said, “Both the films were released with around 10,000 shows across the country and neither of them warranted this sort of showcasing. Even on the opening day, the occupancy was as low as 10 to 12 people in maximum shows. Seeing the no-show, the exhibitors decided to reduce the showcasing of both the films on the second day to save up on the overheads and increase occupancy in the limited shows.”
It is notable here that boycott calls against Aamir Khan’s Lal Singh Chaddha have mired the promotion of the big-budget movie that is the official remake of Tom Hanks’s classic Forrest Gump. Aamir Khan’s anti-India statements in the past, his negative and derogatory portrayal of Hindu Gods in his movie PK and his overtly political statements of the past have all been adding to the prevailing sentiments of rejection among the audience of Hindi cinema. Even Kareena Kapoor’s past statements of mocking the audience and participating in politically motivated campaigns have stirred negative sentiments against the movie.
Aamir Khan has continued to peddle his specific agenda even in his latest release ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’. The movie has several scenes that are allegedly made to satisfy specific propaganda. Now that there is very less footfall in the talkies than expected, the theatre owners themselves are reducing the number of shows of this movie.
Apart from boycott calls, the movie was also panned by movie critics. Irrespective of political ideology, most film critics slammed the movie for being a very bad adaptation of the Hollywood masterpiece Forrest Gump. Critics also especially targeted Aamir Khan for his bad acting.
