Sidharth Malhotra and Tamannaah Bhatia's supernatural thriller posted a marginal uptick on its first Thursday, still trailing its reported Rs 80 crore budget by a wide margin.
The Vvaan: Force of the Forrest made a small move in the right direction on its seventh day. The Sidharth Malhotra and Tamannaah Bhatia starrer collected Rs 4.40 crore net in India on Thursday, according to figures reported by Sacnilk, running across 6,966 shows nationwide. That's a 3.5% bump over Wednesday's Rs 4.25 crore, which isn't much to write home about but at least it isn't a slide.
The film has now crossed Rs 53.50 crore net in India since its September 25 release, with gross collections touching Rs 63.57 crore. Add in Rs 50 lakh from overseas on the same day, pushing the international gross to Rs 5.50 crore, and the worldwide gross stands at Rs 69.07 crore.
Here's the number that matters more than any of the daily ticks: the film was reportedly made on a budget of around Rs 80 crore. A worldwide gross of Rs 69 crore on Day 7 means the film still has ground to cover before anyone can call this a clean hit. Recovery at this stage usually hinges on how a film performs once it clears its first week, and The Vvaan hasn't shown the kind of jump that studios pray for.
The cast list reads deep for a film sitting at these numbers. Besides Malhotra and Bhatia in the leads, the supernatural thriller has Anup Soni, Sunil Grover, Shweta Tiwari and Maniesh Paul filling out the supporting roles, directed by Deepak Kumar Mishra.
Reviews haven't helped the cause
The Free Press Journal's own review gave the film 2.5 stars, with the critic noting that the story "had the potential to be a fantastic film" and calling it visually stunning, but adding that Mishra's direction was weak enough to make it "strictly one-time watch." The review did flag it as recommended viewing for Malhotra's fans specifically, which is a narrower audience than a film carrying an Rs 80 crore price tag needs.
What happens next depends entirely on the second weekend. A film limping along at single-digit crores on a weekday needs its Friday-to-Sunday numbers to show real appetite, not just stability. If The Vvaan can't generate a second wave of walk-ins over the coming days, that gap between its worldwide gross and its budget isn't closing anytime soon. The trade will be watching the Friday numbers closely to see if this one has a second life left in it.
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