Manikarnika vs Thackeray: Queen pips saffron tiger to box office success

One is a prominent face of the 1857 National Uprising and symbol of India's resistance to the British, the other a regional right-wing demagogue of identity politics. When their reel avatars came face-to-face Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi pipped Thackeray to earn 200% more at the box office. With the film doing exceptionally well in Delhi NCR, UP, Punjab and Central India and holds steady in rest of the circuits/states, it has gone to become the biggest mainstream release by a woman-led film in the history of Indian cinema.

Shariq Patel, CEO of Zee Studios (which has produced Manikarnika) was ecstatic: “We're humbled and thankful to audiences for the love and appreciation. Following extremely positive word-of-mouth, the film has shown unprecedented growth, closing week one with over Rs 60 crores at the net box office collections. We have retained more than 60% of the screens in key markets in India and gearing up for a bumper second weekend.”

Echoing him Vibha Chopra, head, Zee Studios International (distribution, marketing and acquisitions) revealed that the film has crossed $2 million in the overseas markets and said: “This epic story of heroism, sacrifice and indomitable strength of a woman transcends borders. Its received tremendous praise in major markets worldwide. We've retained more than 80% screens in USA and UAE and more than 65% screens in rest of the world.”

While repeated attempts to get Viacom18 Motion Pictures (which produced Thackeray) drew a blank the late Sena supremo's confidante and Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut whose story the biopic is based on, felt there is space for two biopics in the same week. “That's more important than the box office,” he averred and added, “People are tired of seeing the same fake stories with the same old heroes/heroines playing the same old fake characters. Hence biopics on real sportspersons, historical figures other leading lights in public life are doing well.”

When pressed to comment on the Thackeray's collections he underlined, “But remember, Manikarnika was also made at over Rs 125 crores compared to our budget of Rs 30 crore.”

India and South Asia consultant to the Berlin Film Festival and well-known film critic Meenakshi Shedde said, it is exceptional that a woman-led mainstream Hindi film is doing so well. “Along with the film, the credit goes to the audience as well. At a time when women in Hindi mainstream are often shown regressive compared to other language cinemas of India, the female lead here embodies physical power (unlike the heroines of Dangal and Mary Kom where their professions demanded it), political savvy (even in the matrimonial decision) and intelligence (her husband woos her with books) is great.”

She questioned the film fraternity's conflation of the controversy over direction credits with the film itself. “It is very unfortunate how things played out between the director Krish and Kangana but this is not the first time it's happened. I don't recall the industry reacting to the direction credits controversy when the same happened with Taare Zameen Par.”