Box Office: Marathi Film ‘Deool Band 2’ Scores Big Weekend

A Marathi film delivered one of the biggest box-office surprises this weekend as “Deool Band 2” outperformed the major Hindi release, “Chand Mera Dil”. The devotional comedy collected ₹15.75 crore net on the 4-day weekend, recording the third biggest weekend of all time in Marathi cinema history, only behind “Raja Shivaji” (₹22.90 crore) and “Sairat” (₹12.10 crore in three days).

Directed by Pravin Tarde and starring Mohan Joshi, Snehal Tarde, Mahesh Manjrekar and Mangesh Desai, “Deool Band 2” opened extremely well on Thursday with ₹2.45 crore (net), a figure considered among the best for a Marathi film. Although the strong opening was largely attributed to the sequel factor, the film's highly positive word-of-mouth helped sustain momentum, attracting audiences to theatres in massive numbers. It collected ₹2.55 crore on Friday, followed by ₹4.85 crore on Saturday and ₹5.90 crore on Sunday, showing a spectacular growth throughout the weekend.

“Deool Band 2” is expected to further strengthen what is turning out to be a great year for Marathi cinema. It’s likely going to be the latest box-office success following Hemant Dhome's social drama “Krantijyoti Vidyalay Marathi Madhyam”, which collected ₹25 crore net in January and Riteish Deshmukh's historical epic “Raja Shivaji” (₹88.70 crore net), which has now officially become the biggest Marathi grosser of all time in India, dethroning the ten-year old “Sairat” at the box office.

"Deool Band 2 fiercely debates blind faith in the face of agricultural crises and mounting debts faced by farmers. Mangesh Desai and Snehal Tarde star in the lead roles while Mohan Joshi reprises his role as the deity Shree Swami Samarth.