Vicky Kaushal in a still from the film. (courtesy: VickyKaushal)
Vicky Kaushal's Sam Bahadur is seeing a steady run at the domestic box office. On day 7, the film minted ₹3.05 crore, taking its total collection to ₹38.85 crore at the Indian box office, as per Sacnilk. Sam Bahadur's business on its first Thursday, witnessed a slight dip compared to its collection on Wednesday, when it made ₹3.30 crores. The Meghna Gulzar film is based on the life of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. Apart from Vicky Kaushal, the film also stars Sanya Malhotra, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub and Neeraj Kabi in pivotal roles. The movie hit the theatres on December 1, clashing with Ranbir Kapoor's Animal and made ₹6.25 crore on its first day of release.
Speaking about this box-office face-off, trade analyst and film critic Taran Adarsh claimed that a “solo release would have benefited” Sam Bahadur. Sharing a post on X (formerly Twitter), he wrote, “Sam Bahadur stands on its feet, despite a hurricane called Animal… Riding on glowing word of mouth, the day-wise growth - mainly at key metros - saw the biz witnessing a spike on Day 2 and 3…The weekend numbers would have been higher than what it is today, had it averted this clash [with Animal].” Taran Adarsh added, “A solo release would've benefited the film tremendously since Animal has eroded its business… The weekend numbers would've been higher than what it is today, had it averted this clash.”
Meanwhile, addressing this box office clash, Vicky Kaushal in conversation with The Indian Express said that they [Vicky Kaushal and Ranbir Kapoor] are playing for the same team - Hindi cinema. The actor said, “When two opening batsmen come to the crease, playing for the same team, you won't say that the two batsmen are clashing with each other, they are playing for a single team, so we are playing for Hindi cinema.” Vicky continued, “While one player might hit fours and sixes, the other player will be at the crease and take ones and twos and maintain the strike.”
It must be noted that Animal was earlier scheduled to be released in August.
Needless to say, Vicky Kaushal has been receiving love and appreciation for his performance in the film from fans and critics alike. Sachin Tendulkar, Anand Mahindra, Karan Johar and Katrina Kaif, among several others, have praised Vicky Kaushal's performance in Sam Bahadur. Read all about it here.
In his review for NDTV, Saibal Chatterjee applauded the movie and gave it 3.5 stars. Read the review here.
Sam Bahadur is Vicky Kaushal's second collaboration with Meghna Gulzar after Raazi [2018]. Up next, the actor will be seen sharing the screen space with Shah Rukh Khan in Dunki.