Emraan Hashmi is back with a bang! Yes, the yesteryear hit machine is finally witnessing the much-deserved fan frenzy, and his much-awaited Awarapan 2 has arrived in theaters today (August 14). A generation of audiences who grew up watching him knows how strong a connection he once had with the masses, and he is just one hit away from bouncing back in the game. As the sequel is enjoying all the limelight due to the surprising advance bookings and strong ground-level buzz, let’s revisit the box office performance of its predecessor, Awarapan, which has earned a loyal fan base over the years.

Awarapan got sandwiched between Apne and Aap Kaa Surroor

Back in 2007, on 29th June, Awarapan was released in theaters. Emraan, who was blessed with a chartbuster album for almost every movie, saw his romantic crime thriller take over the masses with chartbuster tracks. Songs like Tera Mera Rishta, Toh Phir Aao, and Mahiya became a rage and built the hype. Unfortunately, it got sandwiched between two major releases of the time, Apne and Aap Kaa Surroor.

On June 29, 2007, it was a three-way clash between Awarapan, Apne, and Aap Kaa Surroor. Besides the Emraan Hashmi starrer, the other two releases also had good buzz due to a superhit music album and the casting. In the case of Apne, Deols (Dharmendra, Sunny Deol, and Bobby Deol) were coming together for the first time in a movie, which turned out to be the biggest selling point. With Aap Kaa Surroor, Himesh Reshammiya was making his acting debut, and on top of that, almost every song of the film was a smashing success.

Low screen count and mixed initial word-of-mouth impacted the run

In a high-voltage clash, Awarapan secured the lowest screen count among all, releasing with 375 screens. Apne secured 625 screens, while Aap Kaa Surroor got 550 screens. Emraan Hashmi’s film was literally sidelined by the other two biggies and opened with just 79 lakh net. While critics’ reviews were decent, the initial word-of-mouth was mixed. Eventually, such feedback from the ticket-buying audience had a brutal impact on the film.

Concluded its box office run with an underwhelming total

After an opening of 79 lakh, Awarapan saw some growth over the opening weekend, but overall collections remained on the lower side, with 2.88 crore coming in. It wrapped up its first week at 4.47 crore. Amid the successful runs of Apne and Aap Kaa Surroor, Emraan’s film was somewhat neglected by audiences, resulting in a lifetime collection of just 7.75 crore net at the Indian box office.

Secured a flop verdict due to the high budget

The romantic crime thriller was made on a budget of 18 crore, which was huge at the time. Against this, it scored only 7.75 crore net, thus recovering only 43.05% of the budget. With a deficit of more than 50%, the film was declared a flop at the Indian box office. Globally, it closed at 12.25 crore gross. Over its run in India, it sold 19 lakh+ tickets.

Awarapan’s cult status fuels sequel’s big box office start

Surprisingly, after such a dismal run, Awarapan found a new life through TV and home video. Over the years, it managed to build a cult following, and its music album attained an evergreen status. Such goodwill is now helping Awarapan 2, which is targeting a rocking start of 17-21 crore net at the Indian box office, thereby surpassing the predecessor’s lifetime collection in a single day.

Stay tuned to Koimoi for more box office updates!

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