Riteish Deshmukh’s directorial debut Ved has had a smashing start at the box office. The Marathi film has earned over Rs 10 crore in its opening weekend, which is one of the highest-ever numbers done by a film in the language in its first three days. The film also marks the comeback of Riteish’s wife, actress Genelia D’Souza.
Ved is a romantic drama, which also stars Ashok Saraf, Jiya Shankar, and Rahul Dev among others. The film was released on December 30. The film is Genelia’s first in Marathi and has also been produced by her. It is partially based on the 2019 Telugu hit Majili, which starred Naga Chaitanya and Samantha Ruth Prabhu in lead.
As per trade tracker Sacnilk, Ved opened to Rs 2.30 crore on Friday, seeing a huge 39% jump on Saturday, and a further 45% jump on Sunday. The film earned Rs 4.50 crore on Sunday, one of the highest single-day figures by a Marathi film ever. Its three-day total of Rs 10 crore is the fourth highest of any Marathi film, behind Sairat, Timepass 2, and Riteish Deshmukh’s own film Lai Bhaari. Film trade analyst Taran Adarsh also tweeted about the film’s strong showing, calling its growth ‘remarkable’.
.
Industry insiders say that the film is growing strongly by word of mouth and should stay strong for the remainder of the week. While nothing can be said about its lifetime business, the strong growth has raised hopes that Ved may end up becoming only the second Marathi film ever to cross the Rs 100-crore barrier. So far, Sairat – with worldwide gross of Rs 110 crore – is the only release to achieve that. The next in line is last year’s blockbuster Pawankhind, which earned around Rs 75 crore.
