Kesari box office collection: Akshay Kumar's war drama rakes in Rs 105.8 cr in first week of release

_Kesari_ has become the fastest film of 2019 to have crossed the Rs 100-crore mark, after the film’s week-long run at the box office. The film earned Rs 6.52 crore on Wednesday (28 March) and Rs 5.85 crore on Thursday, taking its total domestic box office collection to Rs 105.86 crore. While the movie crossed the Rs 75-crore mark in its extended first-weekend run, it has witnessed a sharp decline in earnings on weekdays. [caption id=“attachment_6327821” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Akshay Kumar and Parineeti Chopra in a still from Kesari. Image from Twitter[/caption] Kesari is also the highest opener  of 2019,  becoming Kumar’s second biggest opener after 2018’s sports drama Gold. Kesari also had the highest opening weekend earnings of 2019. The film is based on the Battle of Saragarhi, which took place on 12 September, 1897. A group of 21 Sikhs, who belonged to British Indian regiments and were in charge of protecting the forts of Lockhart and Gulistan on Afghani borders, were faced in combat with 10,000 Afghan soldiers at Saragarhi. Led by Havildar Ishar Singh, the troops managed a victory on the first two attacks and were able to defend the forts. However, the battalion succumbed to the final attack. But the troops were able to buy enough time for the British to call in for reinforcements. Directed by Anurag Singh, and produced by Hiroo Yash Johar, Apoorva Mehta, Karan Johar and Sunil Khetarpal, Kesari also stars Parineeti Chopra, Mir Sarwar, Vansh Bharadwaj, Jaspreet Singh, Vivek Saini and Vikram Kochhar in supporting roles. The film released on 21 March across theatres in India and abroad.