How Much Saif Ali Khan's Kaalakaandi Is Expected To Make On Opening Weekend

New Delhi: The day is here when Saif Ali Khan's much talked-about Kaalakaandi hits screens. Will the effects of Aamir Khan's early review reflect on the movie's box office numbers? This is Akshat Verma's debut film as a director and is the first major release of 2018 - it strategically releases weeks after Salman Khan's Tiger Zinda Hai hit screens. This is also Saif Ali Khan's first movie after last year's Rangoon and Chef, both of which tanked at the box office. While producers are looking forward to profitable box office numbers with eager anticipation, film distributor Akshaye Rathi told Indian Express that Kaalakaandi will perhaps manage a score of Rs 1.5 crores on opening day and that the first weekend collections will be limited to single figures.

"...By the weekend, the film will manage to mint anywhere around Rs 3 crore to Rs 5 crore," read the Indian Express report. The box office predictions of Day 1 are nowhere near the last big release - Salman Khan's Tiger Zinda Hai, which collected a whopping sum of Rs 33.75 crores on opening day. The film currently stands at Rs 316 crores and counting. Mr Rathi also adds that Kaalakaandi's numbers could be low because of fewer screen count - it releases across 500-600 theatres, most of which are multiplexes.

Mr Rathi says another reason to predict low figures for Kaalakaandi (also written by director Akshat Verma, who was the screenwriter of Delhi Belly) is that it will cater to a target audience and not masses in general. "The film has a target audience and hence, it will have a limited revenue," Indian Express quoted him as saying.

Kaalakaandi clashes with two other films upon release - Vikram Bhatt's 1921 and Anurag Kashyap's Mukkabaaz, which released to good reviews on Thursday. Now, a Box Office India report states that it could be 1921 that give box office competition to Salman's three-week-old movie but not Kaalakaandi: "There is still Tiger Zinda Hai going strong at the box office and it could be that 1921 is the one that gives Tiger Zinda Hai a battle this weekend rather than the likes of Kaalakandi and Mukkabaaz which are the more promoted films."

The cast of Kaalakaandi also includes names like Deepak Dobriyal, Vijay Raaz, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Sobhita Dhulipala, Amyra Dastur and Akshay Oberoi. Is Saif Ali Khan ready to show his kaalakaandi at the box office? Only time and the audience will tell.