Sameer Vidwans’s tale of a good-for-nothing boy, Sattu (Kartik Aaryan), who becomes a “supporting hero” for Kiara Advani’s Katha, a survivor of sexual violence, has seen a steady rise in box office collections over the weekend despite mixed reviews.
Since its release, Satyaprem Ki Katha (2023) has made Rs. 38.5 crore, according to Bollywood Hungama, going past the lifetime domestic collection for Aaryan’s last film Shehzada (2023), which made Rs. 32.2 crore. Satyaprem Ki Katha continues Advani’s good run, after the success of Jugjugg Jeeyo (2022), which made Rs. 36.93 crore on its first weekend.
The success of films that are made on relatively smaller budgets and don’t rely on A-listers to draw crowds is also encouraging, Rathi said. “Films that don't have big screen spectacle value, so to say — big budgets, mega scale production values, or big stars — are doing well purely on the merit of their content. Because while there are tentpoles that are made that keep the movie industry galvanized and the numbers kicking in, there's only a finite number of them that can be made. Between their releases, we need these kinds of films that act as good fillers and keep the scoreboard ticking at the box office and allow the entire exhibition sector and the entire industry to keep the turnover going and to stay in the green,” he said.
Satyaprem Ki Katha’s current trend suggests it is likely to recover its production budget from theatrical earnings. On Sunday, the film earned Rs. 12.15 crore, which is more than a 70% increase compared to its Friday earnings of Rs. 7 crore (all figures are from Bollywood Hungama).
Satyaprem Ki Katha also stars Supriya Pathak, Gajraj Rao, Siddharth Randheria, Anuradha Patel and Shikha Talsania.