A still from Ruslaan. (courtesy: aaysharma)
Aayush Sharma's Ruslaan is struggling to pick up pace at the box office. On day 4, which is the first Monday since its release, the action film only managed to make ₹40 lakh through ticket sales, as per a Sacnilk report. This is its lowest earnings so far, with day 1 recording ₹55 lakh, day 2 making ₹75 lakh and day 3 earning ₹ 85 lakh at the domestic box office. The film directed by Karan Butani follows the story of Ruslaan [Aayush Sharma], the son of a dead terrorist. In order to leave the past behind him and earn the title of a true patriot, Ruslaan is ready to go to great lengths.
About Aayush Sharma's performance in the film, NDTV's Saibal Chatterjee wrote: “The eponymous hero is played by Aayush Sharma, who, too, goes all out to prove a point - the lead actor wants to be acknowledged as a heavy-duty action hero capable of carrying an entire film on his shoulders. Sharma does not stop striving towards that end. It is Ruslaan, the film and the character, that lets him down so bad that there is no way he can crawl his way back into some sort of sanity. The film is a boat that not only has no wind in its sails, it is riddled with holes.
In his third release after Loveyatri and Antim: The Final Truth, he gets all the help that needs from screenwriter Yunus Sajawal and director Karan Lalit Butani. They pull out the stops and craft a film that lets the actor have a completely free run. The film suffers major damage in the bargain.”
About working on Ruslaan, his first film outside the SKF banner which is owned by his brother-in-law Salman Khan, Aayush Sharma said at the trailer launch: “If one thinks I was spoiled (by SKF), Karan sir and Radhamohan sir (film's producer) fixed me. When they made me stand bare-chested in minus 6 degrees celsius weather in Azerbaijan, the spoiled brat in me vanished (laughs)....But honestly, it was neither my intention nor my family's intention that I'll only do films with the family. I am an actor first, I am hungry. I would want to do as many good films as I can. It doesn't matter who is producing the film, I would love to work. My journey has just begun and I don't think I have the liberty to stay in a comfort zone.”
Produced by KK Radhamohan, Ruslaan also stars Sushrii Mishraa, Vidya Malvade, Sangay Tsheltrim, Jagapathi Babu, and Manish Gaharwar in pivotal roles.