Vidya Balan's Begum Jaan stumbles on day one, earns just Rs 3.94 crore

Vidya Balan’s Begum Jaan opened to mixed reviews on Friday, but the film failed to attract viewers to the theatres on the first day of its release, collecting a mere Rs 3.94 crore.

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted, “#BegumJaan biz needs to multiply on Sat + Sun to come up with a decent weekend total... Fri ₹ 3.94 cr. India biz.”

Made on an estimated budget of Rs 15 crore, Begum Jaan, directed by Srijit Mukherji, was released in 1200 screens across the country.

The film, a Hindi adaptation of Mukherji’s stellar Bengali offering Rajkahini, stars Vidya as a brothel’s madam in Punjab during India’s partition in 1947. Rituparna Sengupta essayed the lead role in the Bengali version and Mukherji’s first choice for the Hindi adaptation was Vidya.

Begum Jaan also stars Naseeruddin Shah, Ila Arun, Gauahar Khan, Pallavi Sharda, Rajit Kapoor, Ashish Vidyarthi, Vivek Mushran, Chunky Pandey, Poonam Singh Rajput, Ridheema Tiwari, Flora Saini, Priyanka Setia, Mishti Chakraborty, Sumit Nijhawan, Pitobash and Rajesh Sharma in pivotal roles.