Just when one thought that after Rajkummar Rao's twin successes of Srikanth and Mr & Mrs Mahi, one would have to wait for Kartik Aaryan's Chandu Champion to open the floodgates at the box office, Munjya has done the unthinkable.
The film has taken one of the best openings of the year [Rs 4.21 crores/Rs 42.1 million]. It has also grown right through the weekend to bring in as much as Rs 19 crores (Rs 190 million)*.
This box office feat is amongst the Top 10 weekends of 2024.
No one saw this coming as Munjya doesn't have any star value and the promotion and marketing was bare minimum.
The songs had just started getting noticed and the title wasn't the kind that came to everyone's lips easily.
Still, the collections are there for all to see and in three quick strokes over the weekend, Munjya is already a success with the superhit tag there for the taking.
With a creature in the midst of the plot, one is reminded of Ram Gopal Varma's Phoonk [2008], a film had a crow hogging the limelight on the posters.
Phoonk surprised us all with a lifetime score of Rs 10 crores (Rs 100 million), which was quite a lot 16 years ago.
One waits to see where Munjya lands though rest assured, a lifetime score of over Rs 50 crores (Rs 500 million) is guaranteed from this point on.
That would be tremendous for this horror comedy which was made on a minimum budget with the costs spent on the VFX rather than the starcast.
Working quite well as a part of Producer Dinesh Vijan's horror universe, it's a worthy follow up to Stree, Roohi and Bhediya.
The film's opening and subsequent reception assures an excellent start for Stree 2, which is the next film in Dinesh's horror comedy universe.
Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor return in the sequel, and one can well imagine the kind of euphoria that Stree 2 would generate on its release.
*Estimates. Final numbers awaited
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources
