Back in 2018, Imtiaz Ali teamed up with Ekta Kapoor on an epic tale of romance, Laila Majnu, featuring Avinash Tiwary and Triptii Dimri in lead. The Sajid Ali directorial didn’t do well at the cinema halls and was termed a disaster with lifetime box office of Rs 2.18 crore. Over the years, the film was consumed by the audience on digital platforms and the content found appreciation from a section of audience. Cut to 2024, post the success of Rockstar in its re-release, Imtiaz Ali and team decided to partner with national chains for the re-release of Laila Majnu.
The film first arrived at one-cinema hall in Kashmir and met an overwhelming response from the locals. Soon after, the makers expanded the release to other multiplexes in India and to everyone’s surprise, the film has found takers on the big screen 6 years after its original release. According to our tracking, Laila Majnu took an opening of Rs 30 Lakh on August 10, and saw a 110 percent jump to collect Rs 70 Lakh on Saturday.
The two-day total of this Avinash Tiwary and Triptii Dimri starrer stands at Rs 1.00 crore, and the pre-sales for Sunday indicates another spike in business on the third day. The opening weekend for the re-release of Laila Majnu is expected to be around the Rs 2.00 crore mark, and this is a historic feat, as the 3-day business in its re-release would be higher than the 3-day business in its original release in 2018. For those unaware, Laila Majnu collected Rs 1.51 crore in 3-days back in 2018.
Laila Majnu probably might be the first film in the history of Hindi Cinema to score bigger numbers in re-release, than the original release, though the historians of cinema would know better about this feat as re-releases were big back in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The Sajid Ali directorial, written by Imtiaz Ali, is expected to cross the lifetime collections of its original run (Rs 2.18 crore) by Monday and record a reasonable run till the arrival of Independence Day releases on August 15.
There will be a drop in showcasing through the next week, but the initial response suggests that the film could just get back to the cinema halls again once the euphoria of Stree 2, Khel Khel Mein, and Vedaa settles down, as there are no significant releases for over a month post the release of the three big-star-cast films. Stay tuned to Pinkvilla for more updates.
