Aamir Khan starrer Laal Singh Chaddha tanked at the box office with its opening day collection being abysmal. Akshay Kumar starrer Raksha Bandhan also did terribly at the Box Office, even worse than Laal Singh Chaddha, with the collection on day 1 being in the range of Rs 7-8 crores. The estimated Box Office collection for both movies on day 2 is now out and it seems that both the movies have seen a massive slide from the already low collection on day 1.
While on day 1, Laal Singh Chaddha 10-11 crores, it has seen a massive 35-40% drop on day 2 with the estimated collection being in the range of Rs 6-7 crores. At the end of day 2, the movie is estimated to collect Rs 18-19 crores in total. To give some perspective, experts believe that an Aamir Khan starrer movie like Laal Singh Chaddha should have had a collection of Rs 30 crores on day 1, however, the boycott trend against the movie seems to have dented its commercial success.
Raksha Bandhan, on the other hand, is all set to see a 30% drop, collecting Rs 5-6 crores on day 2. After day 2, the Akshay Khan starrer is set to collect a total of Rs 13 to 14 crores.
Interestingly the day 2 drop seems to be far more for Laal Singh Chaddha as compared to Raksha Bandhan.
Why #BoycottLaalSinghChaddha and #BoycottRakshabandhan trended
YouTuber and film enthusiast Dewansh Singh Rajput published a video review of the film on his YouTube channel in which he made some worrisome allegations against the film. Though he repeatedly acknowledged that the acting by Aamir Khan was up to the mark, Rajput pointed out that the movie had several scenes that were allegedly made to satisfy specific propaganda and were Hinduphobic.
Rajput said several scenes targetted particular religions. The movie showed 84 anti-Sikh riots, emergency, Ram Mandir, Lal Krishna Advani, Kargil war, and 26/11, and they have linked Khan’s character to it.
Rajput pointed out that LSC could not even differentiate between Indian Army personnel and Pakistan’s soldiers or terrorist, whoever that character was, and picked him the safety.
In the movie, there was a scene where LSC and that Pakistani soldier or terrorist were having a conversation. This was the point when LSC realized that that person was from Pakistan, but he continued to have a conversation with him. He further offered to do business with the Pakistani personnel in the film.
In one scene, the Pakistani personnel asked LSC, “I offer namaz and pray, Laal, why don’t you do the same?” LSC replied, “My mother said all this Puja Paath is malaria. It causes riots.”
It is notable here that boycott calls against Aamir Khan’s Lal Singh Chaddha have mired the promotion of the big-budget movie that is the official remake of Tom Hanks’s classic Forrest Gump. Aamir Khan’s anti-India statements in the past, his negative and derogatory portrayal of Hindu Gods in his movie PK and his overtly political statements of the past have all been adding to the prevailing sentiments of rejection among the audience of Hindi cinema.
Even Kareena Kapoor’s past statements of mocking the audience and participating in politically motivated campaigns have stirred negative sentiments against the movie.
As far as Raksha Bandhan is concerned, the boycott calls emanated from the Hinduphobic comments made by its writer, Kanika Dhillon. Under the guise of targeting the BJP and PM Modi, she had repeatedly attacked Hindu beliefs and religious sentiments. “Dying in the parking lot after waiting for a hospital bed…Yeh aache din hai! India super power hai! Aur gau mata ka mutra peene see Covid chala jayega (These are the good days…India is a super power. And drinking cow’s urine will cure Covid-19).”
The ‘gaumutra’ jibe has often been used by Islamists and their apologists, including the Pulwama terrorist Ahmed Dhar. He killed the CRPF soldiers as he wanted to avenge those who ‘drink cow urine.’
In several of her tweets, Kanika Dhillon was seen invoking ‘Gau mata’ to take potshots at the ruling dispensation at the Centre.
“Hmm you think one day the cows of India will also be contesting elections? Since they offer more solutions- benefits and protection than our Ministers! Holy cow! Jai Gaiyaa Mayya ki!” she had tweeted.
