_The Tashkent Files_ , the Vivek Agnihotri directorial based on the mysterious death of former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, witnessed a growth in collections on Saturday (13 April), adding Rs 70 lakhs to its opening day earnings of Rs 36 lakhs. The film’s total earnings stands at Rs 1.06 crore. [caption id=“attachment_6434171” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] The Tashkent Files[/caption]
#TheTashkentFiles witnesses growth on Day 2... Needs to maintain the momentum on Day 3 and also on weekdays for a satisfactory total... Fri 36 lakhs, Sat 70 lakhs. Total: ₹ 1.06 cr [250 screens]. India biz.
— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) April 14, 2019
Trade analysts predict that the thriller, released across 250 screens in India, will have to continue its current momentum to earn a satisfactory opening weekend total. While official reports claim that the former prime minister died of a heart attack, several conspiracy theories suggest that Shastri was poisoned. The theories are bolstered by the fact that his personal physician, who said that Shastri had so sign of heart trouble before, was killed in a road accident shortly after Shastri’s death. Agnihotri had announced in January that he would make a film on the “truth of the biggest cover-up of free India” on Twitter. Ahead of its release on 12 April, The Tashkent Files landed in legal trouble after the director and the producers were served a notice by grandsons of Shastri, seeking a stay on the film’s release. Shastri’s family questioned the timing of the film’s release, clashing with the first phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections beginning on 11 April. They also alleged that the makers did not seek permission from the immediate family members of Shastri. In response, Agnihotri released a statement stating that the move to stall the release of the film is politically motivated. The Tashkent Files stars Mithun Chakraborty, Naseeruddin Shah, Shweta Basu, Pankaj Tripathi, Vinay Pathak, Mandira Bedi, Pallavi Joshi, Ankur Rathee and Prakash Belawadi.