/images/ppid_59c68470-image-179057752713074153.webp)
The Vishal Chaturvedi-directed film, made on a reported budget of around ₹2 crore, opened on August 7 to just ₹10 lakh on Day 1. Its first week ended at ₹1.08 crore, according to Sacnilk estimates. Week 2 was even lower at ₹40 lakh.
Then the curve changed. And how?
| Week | India net collection |
|---|---|
| Week 1 | ₹1.08 crore |
| Week 2 | ₹0.40 crore |
| Week 3 | ₹10.40 crore |
| Week 4 | ₹61.00 crore |
| Week 5 | ₹90.25 crore |
| Week 6 | ₹80.25 crore |
| Week 7 | ₹44.95 crore |
Source: Sacnilk estimates; each figure is that week's standalone India net collection, not the cumulative total.
Sacnilk's estimates show that Week 5 alone brought in more than 83 times the film's entire Week 1 collection. Its Week 4 collection was more than 56 times Week 1. By Week 7, Hanuman Ansh had still collected ₹44.95 crore in a single week — the highest seventh-week collection recorded by a Bollywood film, according to Sacnilk.
But what happened between those numbers?
From 300 screens to just
30
The film did not simply build momentum while retaining a large theatrical footprint. It almost disappeared from cinemas.
Co-producer Anupriya Nagar told The Indian Express that the film started with around 300 screens but fell to just 30 by its eighth day. She recalled being told that the film could be out of theatres the following day.
“We got a call on the eighth day saying, ‘Your film has gone from 300 screens to 30 screens. Maybe tomorrow your film will be out because two more films are coming.’ We were told that perhaps only a miracle could save the film and that it might be out of theatres the next day,” she recalled.
At that point, the film's theatrical run was under serious pressure. Instead, its collections began moving in the other direction.
Nagar said the team kept believing in the film even as some members were considering an OTT deal to recover the money.
“I tell them I didn’t do anything. The team kept believing,” she said.
The Toxic shock
The release was competing for screens with much bigger films. And the drastic fall to 30 screens came after Awarapan 2 and Yash-starrer Toxic arrived.
“The first week was normal... In the second week, just because of two more big films (Awarapan 2 and Toxic) that had been released, we came down to 25-30 theatres, which was too much of a downfall,” co-producer Ragini Sona told Screen.
The producer also pushed back on the idea that the makers viewed Toxic as an adversary.
“This Toxic vs Hanuman Ansh was created by the people and the media. But we never thought that we would be able to survive even one day opposite Toxic. We thought that our film would work steadily alongside Toxic, and this will be our journey together,” Sona said.
Business ‘beyond understanding’
Director Vishal Chaturvedi has not offered a conventional explanation for the film's numbers.
Speaking to India Today, Chaturvedi said he had focused more on reaching audiences than on the eventual business the film could generate.
“We were thinking about ideas like these. We were not thinking that the film would do business worth crores. The business side of things is probably not my cup of tea, and it is also beyond my understanding,” he said.
He also described his reaction to the response simply as “Gratitude”.
His stated ambition, he said, was for the film to reach “laakhon, karodon log” rather than to chase a particular box-office number. The team had even considered taking the film to audiences through inflatable theatres in villages, he said.
Actor Chandan Anand, who plays Ram Nandan Bhosle, told India Today: “I feel for the last 10-15 years we have all been seeing a kind of cinema and I have been performing in violent stories, murder mysteries, gangster films, but now performing in a spiritual film is like having a satvik meal.”
How Hanuman Ansh differs from the usual sleeper-hit curve
Hanuman Ansh kept gaining momentum after the point when most films start losing it.
Consider 12th Fail. Sacnilk's estimates show it collected ₹13.04 crore in Week 1 and increased to ₹14.21 crore in Week 2 before dropping to ₹8.65 crore in Week 3.
Laapataa Ladies followed a more conventional long-tail pattern: ₹6.05 crore in Week 1, ₹4.03 crore in Week 2 and ₹2.48 crore in Week 3. Its collections continued to decline thereafter.
Hanuman Ansh, by contrast, went from ₹1.08 crore in Week 1 to ₹90.25 crore in Week 5. That is not simply a film holding well. It is a theatrical run in which the biggest phase arrived several weeks after release.
What changed?
The makers have offered different explanations and interpretations of the response, from their belief in the film to its reach among audiences. But their comments do not establish a single reason for the surge.
Nagar has spoken about the film's reach and the desire to introduce Neem Karoli Baba to younger audiences. Chaturvedi has said the team was focused on getting the film to as many people as possible rather than on its eventual business. The producers also had to fight to keep the film in cinemas when its screen count collapsed.
What the numbers establish is simpler: Hanuman Ansh found its audience well after its opening window, turning what initially looked like a short theatrical run into a sustained box-office surge.
By Week 7, the film had collected ₹44.95 crore in that week alone, according to Sacnilk estimates.
/images/ppid_59c68470-image-179057502509566526.webp)
