Hanuman Ansh, tiny ₹2 crore film with no stars, beats Yash's ₹500 crore Toxic at the box office in shock upset

When it was originally set to release in March, Yash ’s pan-India actioner Toxic was expected to go head-to-head with Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar 2. The crisis in the Middle East averted that clash as Toxic postponed its release. Eventually, as it released in August, Toxic had no competition, or so it thought. After a bumper start, the box-office fortunes of Toxic declined rapidly. On the other hand, Hanuman Ansh , a devotional film with no stars and a tiny budget, is now out-earning it in a massive upset.

Made on a budget of just ₹ 2 crore, Hanuman Ansh had an inauspicious start at the box office, earning only ₹ 10 lakh on its opening day. But it was after it completed three weeks in theatres that the film began to pick up. In its fourth weekend, Hanuman Ansh raked in ₹ 28 crore net in India. On Monday, it avoided a huge drop, but its performance on Tuesday raised quite a few eyebrows. On Tuesday, its 26th day in theatres, Hanuman Ansh registered a 54% jump in collections, netting ₹ 8.50 crore in India. On the same day, Toxic, the recent big release, managed only ₹ 8.20 crore, despite running in five languages and over 1500 more screens than Hanuman Ansh.

Hanuman Ansh’s growth at the theatres has been nothing short of stupendous. The film released in less than 100 theatres a month ago. This figure was reduced to around 20 by its second week. But then, a resurgence saw the film’s screen count surge to over 1500 by its fourth week at the box office. As things stand, Hanuman Ansh may eat up Toxic’s screens across India as exhibitors would want to bet on a ‘sure thing’ more than a sinking ship.

Written and directed by Vishal Chaturvedi, Hanuman Ansh features an ensemble cast, with Chandan Anand and Shobhinav Satyaa in the lead roles. The film was made on a shoestring budget of ₹ 2 crore and released in theatres without much fanfare on August 7. So far, it has earned over ₹ 50 crore net and looks set to cross ₹ 100 crore before shutting shop.

The film traces the life of Lakshman Das and how he found spiritualism, transforming into Neem Karoli Baba . It follows the spiritual leader's journey from age 13 to the point where he came to be loved and revered. The film's writer-director is a doctor-turned-filmmaker. It is produced by Swambhu Media Network Pvt. Ltd., Ragini S., Namrata G. S., and Anupriya A. Nagar. Hanuman Ansh is currently running in theatres.

Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border.