Decoding the economics of Sooraj Barjatya's Uunchai - Budget, Box Office, Recovery and more

Uunchai has acted as a good money spinner for Rajshri Productions. Read on.

By Rishil Jogani

Updated on Nov 19, 2022 | 06:28 PM IST | 1.4M

Sooraj Barjatya's Uunchai's strong hold in week 2 assures that the film will do respectable numbers in its full run (Credit: Yash Raj Films)

Sooraj Barjatya's expedition drama on the backdrop of friendship, was released in theatres last week. The film boasted of an ensemble cast with very credible names from the movie industry like Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Boman Irani, and Neena Gupta among others. It opted for a very conservative yet aggressive release strategy as it released only in 480 screens domestically, in its opening weekend. With glowing word of mouth, the film saw its opening multiply manifolds over the opening weekend.

The numbers on the weekdays managed to show a stronghold and the footfalls too were higher than what they were on an opening day. Uunchai in its second week is running with more screens than it did in its first week, precisely 50 screens more. The second Friday number landed around Rs. 1.25 cr nett and it is all set to record numbers of over Rs. 2 cr net on Saturday and Sunday, to cruise for a lifetime cume of over Rs. 30 cr, domestically.

Uunchai was made at a controlled budget of Rs. 53 cr and the film has recovered Rs. 70 cr from nontheatrical revenue sources like satellite rights, digital rights, and music rights. The rights have been acquired by Zee Network owing to the popularity of Sooraj Barjatya's films, non-theatrically. The makers of the film would be looking to get a worldwide theatrical share of Rs. 20 cr, which although is not a huge amount, is a very respectable amount. Films of the family-drama genre have not found many takers post-pandemic and this film's performance acts as a very pleasant surprise for Bollywood and trade alike. With expected recoveries of Rs. 90 cr, Rajshri Productions is expected to be sitting at a good profit of over Rs. 35 cr.

Uunchai is different from a quintessential Sooraj Barjatya film, which is generally loaded with more music and a strong romantic track. Although the film won't be doing the theatrical footfalls that other Sooraj Barjatya films have done in the past, it sure is a pleasant surprise to mark the resurgence of ailing movie industry. Sooraj Barjatya's next film apparently is with Salman Khan and that film may hopefully repeat the theatrics of the director's old films.