Dhurandhar 2 Rampage in Telugu: Embarrassing for Ustaad?

Pawan Kalyan’s Ustaad Bhagat Singh box office trends have started creating panic among producers and buyers. The film opened with a below-par Rs.50 crore gross worldwide on Day 1, and the momentum crashed further on Day 2. The second day collections fell to around Rs.13 crore gross worldwide, taking the total to approximately Rs.63 crores in two days.

The Day 2 share in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana is reported to be just around Rs.4.5 crores, which is considered extremely low for a film of this scale. This massive fall is disastrous for a star-driven festival release.

With a break-even target of over Rs.200 crores, the film has managed to recover only about 30% of its target so far. Even more worrying is that Day 3, despite being a Ramzan holiday, has shown weaker advance bookings compared to Day 2 in several centers.

Adding to the problem is the strong competition from Dhurandhar 2 Its Telugu dubbed version which finally released today after multiple delays is wreaking havoc across all centers, dominating urban A centers while also pulling massive crowds in B, C, and even D centers with houseful shows.

The situation is so bad that Ustaad Bhagat Singh might now largely depend on overflow audiences from Dhurandhar 2. This has led to comments within the trade calling the situation “embarrassing” for the Telugu film industry, given the expectations attached to Ustaad Bhagat Singh.

At the current pace, the film may almost finish its theatrical run within the opening weekend itself. To recover ground, it needs a massive jump in collections over the next couple of days and a decent hold on weekdays to somehow reduce losses.

Unless there is a miraculous turnaround, Ustaad Bhagat Singh is heading towards a nightmare at the box office.