‘Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar’ Earns $10 Million In A Week

Filmmaker Luv Ranjan’s latest project Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar has made a nett collection of $10 million in the Indian markets alone within a week of the release. The film had an impressive opening on March 8 and grossed $2.2 million in India alone. It is now the second highest opening Hindi film this year, after Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan which had an opening collection of $6.7 million at the Indian ticket windows in the Hindi markets on January 25.

In the US alone, Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar earned $929,817 by Sunday, March 12. ComscoreSCOR
ranked the film at the 12th position in the list of top earning films in the US, for the weekend ending March 12. The film features Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor in lead roles and Boney Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia and comedian Anubhav Singh Bassi also play important parts.

The film made a nett collection of $1.2 million each on the second and third days in the Indian market. Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar earned a little above $2 million on Saturday and Sunday. The collections saw a steep drop on Monday, and came to $0.7 million and had a similar collection on Tuesday, taking the total to $10 million in India.

Directed by Ranjan, Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar made a worldwide gross collection of $2.6 million on the first day of its release on March 8. For India, Wednesday (March 7) was a major festival in several states. The country celebrated the Hindu festival of colors, Holi, on Tuesday and Wednesday (in different regions of the country) and Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar enjoyed additional footfalls, thanks to the public holiday for the festival.

The film marks the first onscreen collaboration for the lead actors. Ranjan co-wrote the film with Rahul Mody. Ayananka Bose is the Director of Photography on the film. Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar is a love story revolving around a modern day couple and their issues. Ranjan’s previous films have often been accused of propogating misogyny. Pyaar Ka Punchnama and its sequel, as well as Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety blamed the heroines for breaking up the hero’s bonds with his friends and causing several other problems in their lives. Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar does not do that, and yet fails to hide misogyny.

In his 2023 film, Luv would have you believe he has widened his worldview and decided to include the heroine’s perspective and even keep her on an equal platform as the hero. The first half shows Mickey (the male lead) as the man who plays with emotions – one of his many businesses is to orchestrate clean and non-messy breakups with the help of manipulations. He is ready to jump into a lifelong relationship within minutes while Tinny is rational enough to weigh her options before she decides to even go for a ‘timepass’ relationship. He even proposes with some impressive lines – he promises to protect her from herself, perhaps saving her from making rash decisions under social or any other pressure.

All Ranjan heroines (Nushrat Bharucha’s Neha in Pyaar Ka Punchnama or her Ruchika in the sequel, or her Sweety Sharma in Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety) are all gold diggers and irrational beings who manipulate their way to ensure their man remains by their side, and provide them with all the materialistic comforts of the world. Tinny is the opposite. For the entire first half, the heroine in Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar is confident, straight-forward, functions with complete clarity and is not just financially independent but detests the idea of relying upon someone else for that matter.

Of course, you can also see how the narrative does not care to elaborate much on Tinny’s life and when details from her life are brought to light, they are mostly there to take the blame for her faults. Right at the starting of their flirting game, Tinny enquires after the minute details of Mickey’s businesses but he is least bothered to even ask her about her profession.

The attempts of hiding misogyny last only up until the interval in Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar and we soon realize Tinny is also the career woman (read ‘vamp’ in stereotypical the language of the patriarchal world) who would rather stay alone all her life than live with her in-laws. The fact that Mickey offers him a two-way option of staying with both the parents is wrapped with so much else that you must realize it is not the main message.

Before Ranjan wraps up his story, he ensures that the heroine is taught the importance of living with in-laws. If the intentions were not clear enough, Ranjan shows two completely different ways of accomodating a working woman in a joint family, before and after the interval. More than a narrative tool or the emotional importance of families, it appears like schooling the heroine.