Article 15 box office collection: Ayushmann Khurrana's social drama earns 34.21 cr in opening week

After a successful opening weekend of Rs 20.04 crore, Ayushmann Khurrana’s cop drama Article 15 witnessed a sharp decline at the domestic box office. The film raked in Rs 3.67 crore on Wednesday, followed by Rs 3.05 crore on 4 July (Thursday). Its total earnings now stand at Rs 34.21 crore. As predicted by trade analysts, Article 15 was able to surpass the Rs 30 crore mark within a week of it hitting the screens.

Besides Shahid Kapoor’s romantic drama Kabir Singh ,  Spider-Man: Far from Home is the new contender of Article 15. Trade analysts further write that revenue from metros is contributing to the film’s business.

Here is the announcement of the first week figures

#Article15 has a healthy Week 1... Metros contribute to its biz... Faces a new opponent, #SpiderMan, besides #KabirSingh, which continues to rule BO... Fri 5.02 cr, Sat 7.25 cr, Sun 7.77 cr, Mon 3.97 cr, Tue 3.67 cr, Wed 3.48 cr, Thu 3.05 cr. Total: ₹ 34.21 cr. India biz.

— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) July 5, 2019

Despite the film being leaked online by notorious online hackers Tamilrockers merely two days after its release, the film has been able to sustain a decent pace during the weekdays.

Directed by Anubhav Sinha , Article 15 is  reportedly  based loosely on the 2014 Badaun rape case, where two girls were allegedly gang-raped and hanged to death from a tree. Apart from Khurrana, the film also stars Isha Talwar, Sayani Gupta, Manoj Pahwa Kumud Mishra, M Nassar, Ashish Verma, Sushil Pandey, Shubrajyoti Bharat, Ronjini Chakraborty and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub.

Recently, the movie was  banned from being screened  in Uttarakhand town Roorkee due to law and order concerns, but the ban was  later revoked . The ban was imposed after fringe outfits like the Hindu Sena approached the administration and alleged that the movie had “maligned” the Brahman community.

A day before its release, members of various Brahman organisations also  staged protests outside cinema halls  in Kanpur against the screening of Article 15, alleging it shows them in poor light.

Addressing the issue, Sinha had issued an open  letter , reassuring the Hindu outfits that his film does not ‘disrespect’ any communities. He said that the intention of a film is never to disrespect society and one should not judge a film from its trailer.