Riteish Deshmukh’s historical drama Raja Shivaji has become one of the most talked about Marathi films of the year. The movie, based on the life of legendary Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, released in theatres on May 1 and created history with a massive opening at the box office. The film earned an impressive ₹11.35 crore on its first day, making it the biggest opening ever for a Marathi film. Fans across Maharashtra and other parts of the country rushed to theatres to watch the grand historical drama, giving the film a dream start.
After the strong opening, the movie continued to perform well during the weekend. It collected around ₹10.55 crore on Saturday and saw further growth on Sunday with earnings of nearly ₹12 crore. The film benefited from positive word of mouth and emotional reactions from audiences who connected deeply with the story of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. However, despite the historic beginning, the film has not been able to maintain the same momentum during the weekdays.
According to the latest box office reports from Sacnilk, Raja Shivaji collected ₹4.25 crore on day 6. This was slightly lower than its previous day collection of ₹4.90 crore. So far, the movie has earned around ₹57.70 crore gross in India, while the net collection stands at approximately ₹48.65 crore. Even though the collections have slowed down after the opening weekend, the film is still performing better than many recent regional releases.
The film also faced competition from Ek Din, starring Junaid Khan and Sai Pallavi, but the clash did not affect Raja Shivaji much. Reports suggest that Ek Din struggled at the box office, while audiences continued choosing Raja Shivaji in theatres. The movie earned around ₹3 crore from Marathi shows and ₹1.25 crore from Hindi screenings recently, showing strong support from Marathi audiences in particular.
Directed by Riteish Deshmukh, the film has been produced by Genelia D’Souza and Jyoti Deshpande under Jio Studios and Mumbai Film Company. Riteish plays Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the film, while Genelia stars as Saibai. Their sons Rahyl and Riaan also appear in the movie as young Shivaji. The film also features a big supporting cast including Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek Bachchan, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sachin Khedekar, Bhagyashree, Fardeen Khan, Jitendra Joshi and Amole Gupte.
Speaking about the audience response, Riteish shared that he feels happiest seeing families visit theatres together to watch the film. He said many grandparents, parents and even very young children are coming to cinemas because they want the younger generation to learn about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. According to the actor, the emotional connection audiences are feeling is more important than just box office numbers.