Could Toilet Ek Prem Katha Affect JHMS Collections?

Shah Rukh Khan-Anushka Sharma-starrer Jab Harry Met Sejal has had a disappointing run at the domestic ticket windows, earning Rs 52.90 crore in four days (box office figures till Monday). Now, with Akshay Kumar’s Toilet Ek Prem Katha releasing on 3200 screens across India, the collection of the Imtiaz Ali film will certainly be affected.

Shree Narayan Singh makes his directorial debut with Toilet Ek Prem Katha, which is made at an estimated budget of Rs 18 crore according to a Firstpost interaction with Akshay. Trade pundits predict Toilet Ek Prem Katha is likely to make anything between Rs 13 to 15 crore at the box office on Friday, according to the website Koimoi. The film also stars Bhumi Pednekar and Anupam Kher in important roles.

The film’s distribution rights for India were sold for Rs 53 crore, tweeted trade analyst Joginder Tuteja.

The movie focusses on the need for toilets in India and is an attempt to urge people to stop open defecation. The film is inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan. Before the film’s release, Akshay also met PM Modi.

Toilet: Ek Prem Katha is the story of a man whose wife leaves him after discovering that there is no toilet in his house. The protagonist then sets out on a mission to win her back by building toilets in his village.

Akshay has had a good run at box office in recent times - while his highest day one collection till now was Rs 16 crore for Singh Is Blingg (2015), Housefull 3 (2016) earned Rs 15.2 crore on the first day. This year, he has had one releases, Jolly LLB 2 that made an opening collection of Rs 12 crore.

In 2016, Akshay’s Rustom opened with Rs 14.11 crore in box office collection while Airlift made Rs 12.3 crore opening day collection.