The Diplomat Box Office Day 1: John Abraham and Sadia Khateeb's movie nets a passable Rs 3.50 crore on Holi holiday

John Abraham's The Diplomat opened on a sluggish note, collecting Rs 3.5 crore nett on Day 1 despite the Holi holiday advantage. Can word of mouth boost its weekend numbers?

Written by Seema Sinha , Entertainment Journalist

Published on Mar 14, 2025 | 10:31 PM IST | 12K

Picture Courtesy: T-Series

John Abraham’s latest political thriller, The Diplomat, failed to capitalize on the Holi holiday advantage, taking a slow-ish start with Rs 3.50 crore nett on its opening day. Despite its gripping premise inspired by real-life events, the film struggled to draw audiences to theaters, courtesy of low advance bookings and minimal pre-release buzz.

The Diplomat India Nett Box Office Collection – Day 1:

Day	India Nett Collections
Day 1	Rs 3.50 crore
Total	Rs 3.50 Crore nett

The pre-release buzz surrounding The Diplomat was minimal, leading to disappointing advance bookings. The film managed to sell only around 10,000 tickets in the top three national multiplex chains—PVR, INOX, and Cinepolis—for its debut day. Despite hitting theaters on one of the biggest festivals in the country, a period typically favorable for Bollywood films, the lack of aggressive marketing and the film’s serious themes may have impacted footfalls.

Given John Abraham’s history of delivering solid action-packed films, we had expected more from The Diplomat. However, we are not writing it off just yet, as we await its first full weekend performance before passing any judgment. For all we know, audiences could embrace the film over Saturday and Sunday contingent on positive word of mouth.

Though the film looks to gain momentum during the weekend, it faces tough competition from the releases of Rise of the Dragon and Kesari Veer. Moreover, Chhaava, a holdover release from February that is still drawing viewers, could further challenge The Diplomat at the box office.

With a 137-minute runtime, The Diplomat has a small window to capitalize on its release before facing another major competitor. Salman Khan’s highly anticipated action spectacle, Sikandar, is set for an Eid 2025 release and is expected to dominate the box office.

Sadia Khateeb, Kumud Mishra, Sharib Hashmi, and Revanthy round out The Diplomat’s cast. The movie is directed by Shivam Nair (Naam Shabana, Special Ops) with a script by Ritesh Shah (Pink, Kahaani). First announced in 2024 with Abraham attached to lead, the project was developed under the T-Series banner in collaboration with JA Entertainment.

Regarding its real-life inspiration, the film chronicles the story of Uzma Ahmed, a woman who fled from Pakistan to India after being forced into a marriage.