Rs2 crore Hanuman Ansh earns 4000% as Steve Jobs-Zuckerberg story fuels interest

Dubai: A Hindi film made on a reported budget of just Rs2 crore has emerged as one of the surprise success stories of 2026.

Hanuman Ansh, directed by Vishal Chaturvedi, has reportedly collected a net of Rs 72.88 crore in India after 28 days. Its India gross stands at around Rs85.97 crore, according to industry-tracking figures.

Against the reported Rs2 crore production budget, the India net collection represents about 42 times the budget. The difference between the collection and reported production cost amounts to roughly 4000% making the film an extraordinarily low-budget box-office performer.

The percentage is a simple comparison between reported production costs and theatrical collections and should not be treated as the producer’s actual profit, since box-office revenue is shared among producers, distributors and exhibitors.

A slow start turns into a sleeper hit

The film’s success is particularly striking because it did not begin as a major theatrical release.

Hanuman Ansh opened with reported collections of around Rs 10 lakh and initially had limited screen presence. However, positive word of mouth gradually brought audiences to theatres.

By its fourth week, the film was recording a dramatic rise in collections, defying the usual pattern of films losing screens and momentum after their opening weeks.

Its reported Rs11 crore net collection on Day 28 underlines just how unusual the run has become.

The Neem Karoli Baba connection

At the heart of Hanuman Ansh is Neem Karoli Baba, also known as Maharaj-ji, an Indian spiritual teacher whose influence reached far beyond his followers in India.

His ashram at Kainchi Dham in Uttarakhand became an unlikely point of connection with some of the world's most influential technology entrepreneurs.

Among them was Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

Why Steve Jobs came to India

Jobs travelled to India in 1974 in search of spiritual guidance and hoped to meet Neem Karoli Baba.

There was, however, a twist: Neem Karoli Baba had died in 1973, before Jobs arrived in India.

Jobs still spent time in the country, including around the Kainchi Dham area, during a period when he was exploring spirituality and searching for direction.

His experience in India later became part of the mythology surrounding his life and thinking.

Mark Zuckerberg followed Jobs' advice

Decades later, another technology giant made the journey to Kainchi Dham.

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg visited the ashram in 2015 during a difficult period for the company. The trip came after Jobs had advised Zuckerberg to visit the Neem Karoli Baba temple. Zuckerberg later described the experience as meaningful and credited the visit with helping him reconnect with Facebook's original purpose.

The Jobs-Zuckerberg connection has helped make Neem Karoli Baba's story familiar to audiences well beyond traditional spiritual circles.

From Silicon Valley to Indian cinemas

That unusual connection is now adding an additional layer of interest to Hanuman Ansh.

The film is not simply riding on the popularity of a major star or a big production budget. Instead, its appeal has grown around a spiritual story, word of mouth and curiosity about a figure whose influence has reached from an ashram in Uttarakhand to the world's technology capitals.

For a film reportedly made for Rs2 crore, the result is striking: a reported Rs72.88 crore India net collection and a box-office return equivalent to more than 4000% over its production cost.

With the film continuing its theatrical run and an overseas release planned, Hanuman Ansh could extend one of the year's most unlikely box-office stories.