Begum Jaan box office collection: Vidya Balan-starrer earns Rs 11.48 cr on opening weekend

Vidya Balan-starrer Begum Jaan, directed by Srijit Mukherji, who also made the original Bengali film Rajkahini that it is remade from, had a lukewarm performance at the box office on its opening day but its collections shaw a marginal increase on Sunday.[caption id="attachment_3382964" align="alignnone" width="825"] A still from Begum Jaan[/caption]Since the film has been made on a modest budget of Rs 15.94 crore, Adarsh predicts that it may be able to earn at the box office later this week before Sonakshi Sinha's Noor and Raveena Tandon's Maatr hit the theatres on 21 April.The morning shows of the film on the opening day had a 15-20% occupancy. The film earned an estimated Rs 3.94 crore, despite being released on a public holiday. The film's evening and night shows fared better.While the film did not fare well in the rest of the country, the film did perform well in Punjab, where the footfalls were good. Reviewers have given Begum Jaan low ratings between two-and-a-half and one-and-a-half stars, calling it superficial and confused.Speaking to The Indian Express, trade analyst Akshaye Rathi said, "The film will be screened at around 1100 to 1150 theatres. So, on the first day, looking at the screens, I don’t expect the film to earn more than 3.5 to 4 crores on day one, by the weekend, it might earn Rs 10-11 crores. The film has been made with a low budget of around 14-15 crores and must have recovered half of the money by selling off satellite and music rights."This film explores the story of the madam of a brothel, which is situated on the border between India and Pakistan. It is set during the Partition era and also stars Pallavi Sharda, Gauhar Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Rajit Kapoor, Ashish Vidyarthi, Vivek Mushran and Chunky Pandey. The film will not be released in Pakistan because the country does not release films which center on the Partition, producer Mahesh Bhatt revealed.The Fate of the Furious, which released on the same day, did well at the box office, garnering Rs 14.5 crore on its opening day.