Darlings Box Office Could’ve Surprised Everyone If Alia Bhatt & Team Wouldn’t Have… ( Photo Credit – Still from Darlings, Laal Singh Chaddha, Raksha Bandhan )
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Last week we talked about how ‘5th August’ was a golden opportunity lost for biggies like Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha, and Akshay Kumar’s Raksha Bandhan. But, there was one more film, one more production house that missed this train owing to the calculations they did. Yep, you already know by the title we’re talking about Alia Bhatt’s Darlings, or should we say Shah Rukh Khan’s Darlings as Red Chillies Entertainment is the major production house behind the film?
The movie witness a direct to streaming release on Netflix and it opened up with reviews majorly on the positive side. In our review, we stated “Darlings is Bollywood getting as close as it could ever be (to date) to Andhadhun. The ‘tragedy mein comedy’ treatment gives this a soul as Alia Bhatt ends up being the heart of this film.”
Post watching the film, a question that would surely bother many is “why this wasn’t a theatrical release?” When films like Jhund can be visualised as a theatrical release film, why did Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment didn’t go ahead to keep this for cinema halls as well?
Even in the past, we’ve seen films like Andhadhun surprising everyone to witness a great success at the box office, Ayushmann Khurrana’s most films for that matter have done the same. Darlings, amid all the controversies of #BoycottAliaBhatt & the fact that it could be an entertaining film for many, would’ve definitely attracted a decent number of audiences.
Despite the film highlighting domestic abuse in one of the most quirkiest ways, it’s the nature of the film that’s entertaining and that’s what multiplex audiences would’ve lapped up. This is when you could’ve had a whole week to yourself as even no one from Laal Singh Chaddha, Raksha Bandhan cared to utilise the same.
Darlings came at the time when Alia Bhatt was basking in the ultimate glory of Gangubai Kathiawadi. Now we know that it’s hard to predict the fate of any film but you can’t really go wrong when you’ve Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Alia Bhatt in the film. Makers could’ve thought that by aiming at optimally using Alia’s popularity to promote Darlings. This surely would’ve given the boost if it had ever been released theatrically.
Just for fun, here’s what we think Alia Bhatt’s Darlings could’ve earned (till 15th August) at the box office –
5th August 2022, Friday – Day 1: 8 crores
Day 2: 11 crores
Day 3: 14 crores
Weekend 1: 33 crores
Day 4: 6 crores
Day 5: 5 crores
Day 6: 4 crores
Day 7 (Raksha Bandhan holiday): 4 crores
Day 8: 3 crores
Day 9: 4 crores
Day 10: 5 crores
Day 11 (Independence Day holiday): 6 crores
Total (till 15th August): 70 crores*
What do you think of the same? Do you think Darlings’ makers repeated the same mistake as Aamir Khan & Akshay Kumar did with Laal Singh Chaddha, and Raksha Bandhan respectively by missing the golden opportunity of 5th August? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
