The Marathi film Dashavatar, which released on September 12, is showing unbelievable trending at the box office. Starring Dilip Prabhavalkar, who is popular among the Hindi audience for playing Mahatma Gandhi in Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), and Mahesh Manjrekar in a supporting role, the film refuses to stop and is all set to collect more in its second week than in its first. The word of mouth is overwhelmingly positive due to the film’s subject, treatment, music, and the award-worthy performance of Dilip Prabhavalkar.
BREAKING: Dashavatar makes HISTORY; FIRST Marathi film to be screened in IMAX; RARE 7:00 am and 8:00 am shows; to collect more in the second week than the first
Dashavatar started with around Rs. 55-60 lakhs on the first day. It jumped to around Rs. 1.30 crore on Saturday followed by Rs. 2.30 crores approx. on Sunday. The film remained rock-steady in the weekdays, with the discounted Tuesday further giving it a boost. It collected more on the second Friday (around Rs. 1 crore) and the jump on the second Saturday (approx. Rs. 2.20 crores) has stunned the trade and industry.
The data of the number of tickets sold in the popular multiplex chain MovieMax gives a fair idea about the film’s trending. It sold 2,451 tickets of Dashavatar on the day of release. But on Saturday and Sunday, it admitted 8,163 and 8,985 viewers respectively. On the second Friday, 3,678 tickets were sold. On Saturday, MovieMax got a footfall of 10,565 people for Dashavatar, which is not just higher than the first Saturday but also higher than the footfalls on the discounted Tuesday (10,393). Sunday footfalls of 11,142 are the highest for this film in these 10 days.
The 10-day collections are expected to be around Rs. 14 crores. Looking at the response, cinemas began to increase its shows to take advantage of the demand. In a rare instance for a Marathi film, very early morning shows were played. As per industry experts, this last probably happened for Sairat (2016).
On Sunday, Maxus Bhayander and Maxus Borivali each played a show at 7:00 am. In MovieTime Hub Goregaon and Topiwala Goregaon, the first show began at 8:00 am, while in Miraj Mulund, it was at 8:10 am. PVR Lower Parel and PVR Juhu are not high-performing centres for Marathi films. Yet, they had shows as early as 8:56 am and 9:30 am, respectively. The 8:00 am show at MovieTime Star City was sold out in advance.
In Pune, Inox Megaplex had an 8:00 am show as well as a show at 8:50 am. Inox Elpro City Square, Chinchwad, meanwhile, had a show at 7:40 am. The other cinemas in the city to have such early morning shows were Miraj Spine City Mall (8:00 am), City Pride Kothrud (8:30 am) and E-Square Hinjawadi (8:30 am). Even a city like Nashik had to incorporate an 8:00 am show at MovieMax College Road.
Meanwhile, Dashavatar became the first Marathi film to be played in an IMAX screen. On Sunday, the 7:30 pm slot at Eros IMAX in Churchgate, Mumbai was allotted to the revenge drama. From Monday, the film will have two shows, at 1:00 pm and 7:25 pm, as the management removed the afternoon show of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle. Dashavatar is not IMAX compatible but for Eros to screen the film over other movies and even reducing shows of an IMAX compatible film is a significant development.
Looking at the demand, it is clear that it’ll remain strong even on weekdays. Accordingly, several cinemas have increased the show count. Cinepolis Viviana Mall Thane will play a record 23 shows a day from Monday, September 22, while there will be 13 shows daily in Cinepolis Bhandup. Metro Inox Cinema is not a cinema where Marathi films perform to their full potential. Yet, it has allotted 9 shows. Mumbai’s Gaiety-Galaxy complex surprisingly had just 1 show of the film, that too in the 105-seater Gossip, until the second Sunday. From today, Dashavatar will have two shows in the mini theatre.
In Pune, while Cinepolis Seasons Mall Pune and Cinepolis Nexus Aundh will each play 16 shows a day, there will be 14 shows daily of Dashavatar at Inox Megaplex Pune. The cinemas across the state have reduced shows of non-performing or holdover releases like Nishaanchi, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle, The Conjuring: Last Rites etc. In some cinemas, shows of even Jolly LLB 3 were reduced to a small extent, though it’s also having an excellent run at the box office.
Looking at its phenomenal run, Dashavatar is all set to comfortably cross the Rs. 20 crores milestone, with trade keenly watching if it can even touch the coveted Rs. 25 crores mark in its lifetime. The film has truly emerged as the saviour of the Marathi box office in 2025, especially since no other release this year has managed to even hit the Rs. 10 crores mark. The industry will now shift its gaze to the next promising Marathi release, Vada Paav, hitting cinemas on October 2. The big question is whether it can ride this renewed wave of interest and replicate, or even surpass, the historic performance of Dashavatar.
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