Shaakuntalam box office collection day 3: Samantha Ruth Prabhu film falls second day in a row, makes just Rs 1.4 crore

Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s mythological epic Shaakuntalam has crashed at the box office quite badly. The film, which opened with disappointing numbers, continues to fall each subsequent day with the opening weekend numbers failing to go past Rs 10 crore worldwide. Given its large scale and big budget, that is a disastrous start for the film.

Sacnilk reported that the film earned just Rs 1.4 crore net in India on its first Sunday, a near-10% fall from its Saturday collections. Films earning less on Sundays as compared to Saturdays is a rare occurence and thats signifies the moviegoers’ reluctance to step out and watch Shaakuntalam. Chances of recovery for the film are now very low given that collections anyway drop on Mondays.

Shaakuntalam has, so far, earned Rs 5.65 crore net across India in its opening weekend. Despite being released as a pan-India film, its earnings outside the Telugu-speaking states have been negligible. It has only earned Rs 75 lakh in the Hindi-dubbed version, 31 lakh in Tamil, and mrely 4 lakh in Malayalam in its first three days. It’s global gross (including overseas collections) is just above Rs 8 crores.

Shaakuntalam, directed by Gunasekhar, is based on Kalidasa’s epic play Abhignyana Shaakuntalam and focusses on the love story between Shakuntala and King Duhsyant, mentioned in the Mahabharata. Made on a reported budget of Rs 65 crore, the film looks unlikely to recover its costs at the box office.

The film, which saw delays in release multiple times owing to post-production work and conversion to 3D, boasts of a large ensemble cast. Apart from Samantha, it also stars Dev Mohan, Sachin Khedekar, Mohan Babu, Prakash Raj, Gautami, Madhoo, Kabir Bedi, Jisshu Sengupta, and Kabir Duhan Singh. It also marks the screen debut of Allu Arjun’s daughter Allu Arha.