Shaakuntalam box office: Samantha Ruth Prabhu's magnum opus has a disastrous opening weekend

After facing several delays and obstacles, Samantha Ruth Prabhu & Dev Mohan starrer Shaakuntalam released last Friday at the box office. While the mega-budget mythological drama was expected to shatter several records at the ticket windows, it garnered a disastrous response from the cinegoers by collecting merely around Rs 6.54 crore in India. Talking about the overseas box office, _Shaakuntalam_ raked in around Rs 1.16 crore, which takes its global total to Rs 7.60 crore. Released on the occasion of Vishu, the film garnered mixed-to-negative reviews with maximum praising Samantha and Allu Arha’s performance but criticizing the VFX, screenplay and direction. While the film opened to Rs 3 crore on its opening, it raked in around Rs 1.85 crore and Rs 1.69 crore on its second and third day respectively. Looking at the current scenario, Shaakuntalam is expected to end its theatrical run under Rs 15 crore at the box office, which will indeed be a colossal disappointment for the makers and distributors.

Directed by Gunasekhar, the film also features Jayadev Mohan, Sachin Khedekar, Prakash Raj, Mohan Babu, Aditi Balan, Madhoo, Kabir Duhan Singh, Kabir Bedi and Jisshu Sengupta. It is based on Kalidasa’s play Abhijnanashakuntalam. Talking about Shaakuntalam, Gunasekhar had recently said,  “The film traces the emotional journey of a woman who falls in love and the challenges fate throws at her. She’s a character of inner strength who depicts her emotions with dignity and grace in all that she does. Her truth is her strength, all these emotions can only be portrayed by a wonderful performer like Samantha and she was our only choice to be able to create this epic.” Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.