Rajkummar Rao’s gangster drama ‘Maalik’ finally hit cinema screens on 11 July. Directed by Pulkit, the film sees Rajkummar Rao in a rugged new avatar, with Manushi Chhillar playing his love interest. The first day’s collection figures are in, and they show a modest start for the film, despite decent buzz around its release.A fair start at the box officeAs per early box office estimates reported by industry tracker Sacnilk, ‘Maalik’ earned about Rs 3.35 crore on its first day. This is a moderate opening, not a massive one, but still a solid start for a gangster drama.The film’s occupancy on Friday stood at 12.86%. Morning shows saw only 6.65%, which slowly grew to 11.12% in the afternoon and 11.78% by evening. Night shows performed the best with 21.88% occupancy, showing that more people came out to watch it later in the day.Tough competition at the theatres‘Maalik’ faced heavy competition from other films already playing in cinemas. Aamir Khan’s ‘Sitaare Zameen Par’, ‘Metro In Dino’, ‘Jurassic World’, and ‘F1’ were all still drawing crowds. On top of that, many new films also released, giving viewers plenty of choices and splitting the collections. In Bollywood, Shanaya Kapoor made her debut opposite Vikrant Massey in ‘Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan’, which released on the same day along with the superhero film ‘Superman’.Better than some, behind othersThough ‘Maalik’ didn’t have a huge opening, it still did better than some of the other new releases. As per early estimates by Sacnilk, Shanaya Kapoor’s debut film collected just Rs 0.35 crore (35 lakhs) on day one. However, the Hollywood superhero film ‘Superman’, starring David Corenswet, raced ahead with around Rs 7 crore.‘Maalik’ movie reviewThe Times of India review gave ‘Maalik’ 2 stars. An excerpt from the review says, “There’s no substantial plot beyond one gangbanger or the other trying to bring him down. This includes MLA Balhar (Swanand Kirkire), who ropes in a suspended SP from Kolkata, Prabhu Das (Prosenjit Chatterjee), to arrest Maalik. His mentor, Shankar Singh (Saurabh Shukla), and rival, Chandrashekhar (Saurabh Sachdeva), also turn against him. The film simply drags on as each tries to eliminate him, and he defeats them one by one. As the viewer begins to lose track of who’s chasing him and when, the plot devolves into relentless shootouts that quickly become tedious. The narrative briefly gains momentum in the second half, and some of the action sequences are shot with finesse, especially the climax.”The review also says,“Although the lack of a compelling plotline makes the viewing experience cumbersome, the film maintains an even pace. A major betrayal toward the end, however, renders the story trite. Anuj Rakesh Dhawan’s cinematography and Ketan Sodha’s background score lend some polish to the overall narrative. Rajkummar Rao delivers a strong performance. He strikes a balance between being a dreaded gangster and a caring family man.”
