Laxman Utekar’s comedy Luka Chuppi had a healthy opening weekend, earning an estimated 30-odd crore, according to trade sources. The March 1 release stars Kartik Aaryan and Kriti Sanon as a live-in couple who have to pretend to be married to fend off family members.
The Maddock Films production, with a cast that includes Pankaj Tripathi, Vinay Pathak and Aparshakti Khurana, is Kartik Aaryan’s first success outside of the Pyaar Ka Punchnama universe. Luka Chuppi was released a week after the comedy Total Dhamaal, whose sprawling cast includes Ajay Devgn, Riteish Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi, Jaaved Jaaferi, Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit. Total Dhamaal has earned an estimated Rs 115 crore since its February 22 release, trade sources said.
Sonchiriya, the other Hindi movie released alongside Luka Chuppi, had a far less fulfilling week. Abhishek Chaubey’s 1970s-set dacoit drama, starring Sushant Singh Rajput, Bhumi Pednekar, Manoj Bajpayee, Ranvir Shorey and Ashutosh Rana, earned roughly four crore.
Aditya Dhar’s patriotic drama Uri: The Surgical Strike posted a couple of more crores over its eighth weekend, taking its total to roughly Rs 240 crore. The January 11 release stars Vicky Kaushal as Major Vihaan Singh Shergill, the leader of the Indian Army unit that conducts a stealth attack on terrorist training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy, meanwhile, has made a little over Rs 128 crore since its February 14 release. Ranveer Singh plays Murad, a rapper with big dreams from Mumbai’s Dharavi slum. The cast includes Alia Bhatt and Siddhant Chaturvedi.