Kangana Ranaut became an icon in India for young girls and women, playing Rani in Queen and Tanuja in Tanu Weds Manu. These movies made Kangana Ranaut a force to reckon with in the mostly male-dominated Bollywood.
But the success of Kangana Ranaut in the past has not translated into successful movies lately. And by the looks of it, her recent spy-thriller film Dhaakad seems to be tanking at the box office. Going by what Twitterati says, the last box office success for Ranaut was way back in 2015, when Tanu Weds Manu Returns came out. Ranaut also got a National Film Award for that movie.
Here’s how Kangana Ranaut’s recent films have performed:
1. Dhaakad - 2022
Budget – Rs 100 crore
Box Office (as of May 23, 2022) – Rs 3.22 crore
Reports have come forth that shows are being cancelled due to low audience turnout.
2. Thalaivii - 2021
Budget – Rs 100 crore
Box Office – Est. Rs 14-15 crore
The film was released in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
3. Panga – 2020
Budget – Rs 20 crore
Box Office – Rs 41.71 crore
4. Manikarnika - 2019
Budget – Rs 115 -125 crore
Box Office - Est. Rs 160 crore
In contrast to the above, Tanu Weds Manu Returns made on a budget of Rs 39 crore managed to earn around Rs 255 crore.
What happened to Dhaakad?
Although it seemed impossible at first, #Dhaakad finally managed to earn a humongous 1.5 crore in its first weekend.
— Ⲙ. (@mannkahe) May 23, 2022
With this, Kangana has outperformed her previous film #Thalaivi's first weekend collections by a whopping 40 lakh.
Huge congratulations to the team??
Kangana Ranaut plays Avni, a deadly spy, in Dhaakad. Avni is on a mission to kill the villain Rudraveer, played by Arjun Rampal, an international human trafficker and arms dealer.
Reviews for Dhaakad have not been great. Most reviews said that the film was too extra on violence, action, gore, etc, and lacked original content.
To be fair, one look at the trailer tells you that Avni’s character seems to be – in Kangana Ranaut’s sister Rangoli Chandel’s words - “sasti copy” of western women spy characters. Avni seems to go from Alice from Resident Evil, to Dominika Egorova from Red Sparrow, with bits of Lorraine Broughton from Atomic Blonde thrown in, etc.
Other than the reviews, Dhaakad seems to have lost its audience to Kartik Aryan and Kiara Advani-starrer Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, which was released along with Dhaakad on May 20, 2022.
Adding fuel to the fire was model-actor Payal Rohatgi's comments against Kangana Ranaut and Dhaakad. Rohatgi, a Ranaut cheerleader in the past, has not been kind to the Dhaakad actor lately. In the recent past, she took a dig at Lock Upp Season 1 winner Munawar Faruqui for not promoting Dhaakad enough. Rohatgi also said, 'Kangana Ranaut makes films on Sita, but will also cast those who make fun of Sita to show her objectivity.'
Before this controversial remark, Rohatgi also shared a bunch of pictures from Dhaakad premiere which she captioned, 'Rangoli you are such a good human being. But your sister was not happy to see me. She was sulking.'
Rohatgi, who was also a contestant on Lock Upp, has expressed her unhappiness at not being chosen as the winner.
Twitter reactions:
Twitterati have not been kind either to Dhaakad or Kangana Ranaut.
1.
Kangana Ranaut after the release of #Dhaakad pic.twitter.com/Eggz1hfHeg
— Rofl Democrazy (@FakirHu) May 22, 2022
2.
This thali is more expensive than dhaakad first day collection pic.twitter.com/VgNg0Sun7X
— ᵀʰᵒʳ (@Stormtweets_) May 21, 2022
3.
This watch is more expensive than #Dhaakad's first day collection pic.twitter.com/XDEwANR8bp
— Kaustubh (@iKaustubh_3) May 21, 2022
4.
Apparently all the specimens who followed Kangana on Twitter and hailed her nonsense aren’t paying good money to watch #Dhaakad, which is sinking fast.
— Ajay Kamath (@ajay43) May 22, 2022
5.
#KanganaRanaut out side the theatre #Dhaakad ??? pic.twitter.com/ohPNX67zRO
— Parody Pandit ™ (@Thanos_pandith) May 22, 2022
However, some Twitterati showered praises on the movie and the star for her performance.
Just watched #KanganaRanaut starrer #Dhaakad. I can say with absolute conviction that it's India's best action film.A directorial marvel. Brilliant acting by all. The long action sequences are a rare thing to watch so don't miss the theatrical experience, made for big screen. ??
— Dravo ?????? (@__Prabhu) May 22, 2022
I request to everyone please go & watch #Dhakad film on 20th may in theatres near by your home. In Bollywood rarely films are made women centric. It's right time to support #KanganaRanaut
— Shishir (@shishir59027784) May 17, 2022
Have you seen Dhaakad? What is your review? Let us know in the comments.