‘Bheed’ Closes First Week Below $1 Million

Anubhav Sinha’s new Hindi film Bheed has roughly collected $3,75,000 in a week since its release in India. The film features Rajkummar Rao, Bhumi Pednekar and Kritika Kamra in lead roles and narrates the plights that migrant workers faced in India when the coronavirus pandemic hit worldwide in early 2020. Ashutosh Rana, Aditya Srivastava and Pankaj Kapur also play important roles in the film that has received wide critical acclaim and is being widely hailed as an important watch.

Bheed has had a dismal run at the box office – it made an opening collection of $52000 and the first weekend figures stood at $2,42,000. Sinha has co-written the film with Saumya Tiwari and Sonali Jain. The suffering and pain of the poor is often shown in the film in a matter-of-fact way, and the film avoids taking sides. Unlike most Hindi political films, Bheed avoids pinning the blaming at one political party or even just
just
the government. It spreads across the blame on everyone in power be it administrative, social or gender.

Bheed does not dilute the message or the plight of the poor and becomes a mirror of the society around us – the society that nurtures the powerful and entertains their power trips. It encompasses a variety of power-equations including caste, gender, class and authoritative imbalances in the society.

Caste is a major factor in the entire narrative of Bheed. Each character in the film is well-aware of the caste equation – be it cops taking orders from a senior officer or a union leader negotiating with the cops. All the actors have portrayed their roles perfectly, but Rao and Kapur deserve special mention. They play angry men from two ends of the spectrum – Rao hails from a “lower caste”, but is also a cop (position of power) and Kapur is a daily wage labourer hailing from an “upper caste”. Both brilliant actors have brought the anger to the fore in both their individual character arcs, as well as in scenes that outline the dynamics between them. The film has romantic angle, and that too highlights caste equations in the Indian society.

Meanwhile, Rani Mukerji’s new film based on a real life story continues to attract audience even as it completed two weeks on Thursday. Directed by Ashima Chibber, Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway has earned $2.1 million in India in two weeks of the release on March 17. The film grossed $2.4 million worldwide in a week and collected $1.3 million in India alone. Trade experts hope it will wrap around $ 3 million in India, by the time another major film hits theatres. Salman Khan’s new film Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ka Jaan is slated for theatrical release in a month, on Eid 2023.