Prem Keetanu Box Office: Premalu Remake Opens at Rs 1 Crore

Prem Keetanu Flops With Just Rs 1 Crore Opening Weekend

The Hindi remake of Malayalam hit Premalu lost theatres to Drishyam: The Conclusion days after its teaser drew criticism for straying from the original's tone.

By Day One2 hours ago2 min read

Current hype level49

Live site hype

around 8 reading right now · 1.7k today

Prem Keetanu opened on October 2 and by Sunday night had made a little over Rs 1 crore nett. For a Hindi theatrical release in 2026, that's not an underperformance. That's a film the audience simply didn't show up for.

The remake of Malayalam's Premalu, directed by Apoorv Singh Karki and headlined by Veer Pahariya and Aafiya Sayed, had trouble brewing well before release day. The teaser landed to a wave of complaints that it had none of the original's charm. Viewers flagged a long list of changes from the Malayalam version, the kind of tinkering that tends to get noticed fast once people start comparing frame by frame online. Judging by the reaction on social media and forums this week, where fans are still litigating which regional rom-com beats which, that comparison instinct isn't going away anytime soon.

Then came the release date. Prem Keetanu walked straight into Drishyam: The Conclusion, which was never going to end well. Drishyam 3 has been doing what 123telugu called mind-blowing business, and theatres responded accordingly. Over the weekend, several Prem Keetanu shows were pulled and handed over to Drishyam 3 and other films because occupancy simply wasn't there. When a distributor starts swapping your film out mid-weekend for lack of footfall, the box office number is almost a footnote. The trade had already made its call.

There's a pattern worth noting here, even if nobody at the studios wants to say it out loud yet. Akshay Kumar's Haiwaan struggled too, and that's two remakes in quick succession failing to find an audience in Hindi cinemas. Remakes used to be treated as safe bets, a tested script with built-in word of mouth. That math isn't holding anymore. Audiences who've already seen the original on a streaming platform, often within months of its own release, don't seem inclined to pay for a second, altered version in theatres, especially one accused of losing what made the first one work.

For Prem Keetanu's team, the damage is largely done. A Rs 1 crore weekend against a direct hit from one of the year's biggest earners leaves almost no room for a second-week recovery, not with Drishyam 3 still commanding screens. Whether Pahariya and Aafiya Sayed's film finds any life through streaming, where remakes sometimes get a second look away from direct comparison, remains the only open question now. The theatrical run, for all purposes, has already been decided.