Nine lakh rupees. That was Hanuman Ansh's opening day number, according to Taran Adarsh, and it barely improved from there in week one, which closed at Rs 1.07 crore total. Week two was worse. Rs 50 lakh, a number Adarsh describes as a "total collapse." On release day itself the makers had already gone to a buy-one-get-one ticket scheme, Bollywood Hungama reported on Friday, the kind of move that usually signals a film is about to disappear from screens.

Instead it did the opposite. Week three brought Rs 11.09 crore. Week four brought Rs 62.15 crore. And the fifth weekend, the one everyone expected to finally bring the correction, delivered Rs 49.51 crore instead, with the fifth Sunday alone worth Rs 22.73 crore. As of September 6, the film's lifetime stands at Rs 124.32 crore.

Adarsh isn't hedging on how strange this is. "The first week was bad, while the film had a total collapse in the second weekend," he said. "I am sure the producers were so disheartened, looking at the second week numbers. They must have thought ki film ka pack-up ho gaya. But then it picked up and how." No BOGO offer needed now, he says, because "it's running on the basis of the content. The audience has become the brand ambassadors."

He reaches for an old comparison, Jai Santoshi Maa from 1975, describing audiences who brought pooja thalis to cinemas and stood barefoot during the songs. He says he's seen similar scenes at Hanuman Ansh screenings.

Trade watchers pinpoint the turn at different moments. Producer and business analyst Girish Johar says he clocked it midway through the disastrous second week, when the film kept hanging on in theatres despite the numbers. Distributor Raj Bansal says he only saw it in week three, when he started drawing comparisons to Mahavatar Narsimha's 2025 run. "There's a lot of demand and urgency to see the film," Bansal says. "I get so many calls requesting for tickets because its shows are sold out in every theatre here."

Where does this end

That's the question nobody in trade seems willing to answer with a straight number. Analyst Atul Mohan puts it bluntly: "Abhi toh bas shuruaat hai. It can go anywhere. Rs 200 crore, Rs 300 crore and even Rs 400 crore lifetime can't be ruled out." He notes schools are now organising trips to the film, which is its own kind of momentum.

Adarsh thinks week six could genuinely outdo week five. "It's in the hands of the public now," he says. "It's a case study." Johar is more cautious, tying everything to how the film performs on weekdays, though he doesn't rule out big numbers either. "When an Obsession can do such numbers, why not Hanuman Ansh?" he asks, before adding that the film is already delivering strong returns regardless of where the final tally lands.

Mohan places it in a pattern going back to Hanuman in 2024 and Mahavatar Narsimha and Laalo last year, devotional titles quietly outperforming expectation after expectation. Johar's read is simpler still. Genre doesn't matter, he says, star power doesn't matter, if the emotion lands, audiences show up regardless of who made the film.

Week six numbers will start coming in within days. If Adarsh is right, they'll beat week five.