Pankaj Tripathi–Ali Fazal’s Mirzapur: The Movie shoots down weekday dip as India box office crosses Rs 1 billion

Somebody forgot to tell Mirzapur: The Movie that Mondays are supposed to be humbling. The film waltzed straight through the dreaded weekday slump and casually strolled past the Rs 100 crore mark in India, proof that Kaleen Bhaiya's kingdom still owns real estate in the box office too. The global picture is even rosier: with Rs 7 crore added overseas on Sunday, international earnings for the weekend touch Rs 20 crore, pushing the worldwide total to Rs 132.35 crore already.

Let's rewind. Trade watchers, playing it safe, pegged the opening around Rs 18-20 crore. Mirzapur collected Rs 25.75 crore instead, and in the process out-earned Saiyaara and Awarapan 2's opening numbers.

Saturday: Rs 32 crore. Sunday: an even heartier Rs 36 crore. Then came Monday, the day every film quietly braces for impact, and Mirzapur merely dipped to Rs 15.50 crore, which is less a dip and more a gentle bow before continuing the march. Total haul so far: Rs 109.25 crore, per Hindustan Times.

The film, releasing in Hindi with a Telugu dub, though the Hindi version is doing virtually all the heavy lifting, brings the franchise's power struggle back to the screen, this time rewinding to 2018 for a chapter fans haven't seen play out. Gurmeet Singh directs, Puneet Krishna writes, and the whole gun-and-blood-soaked affair is backed by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar's Excel Entertainment alongside Amazon MGM Studios.

As for who's actually firing those bullets on screen: Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, and Divyenndu return, joined by newcomer Jitendra Kumar stepping into Bablu Pandit's shoes (previously Vikrant Massey's turf) and Ravi Kishan joining the fold fresh. Meanwhile, the old guard, Abhishek Banerjee, Rasika Dugal, Sheeba Chadha, Rajesh Tailang, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Harshita Shekhar Gaur and Shweta Tripathi, are all back to keep Mirzapur's particular brand of chaos running smoothly.