Main Vaapas Aaunga box office Day 1: Imtiaz Ali’s lowest opener yet, earns Rs 1.15 cr

2 min readMumbaiJun 13, 2026 09:17 AM IST

Main Vaapas Aaunga box office collection Day 1: The film earned Rs 1.15 crore.

Main Vaapas Aaunga box office collection Day 1: Imtiaz Ali has returned to theatres after a gap of six years with his partition romance Main Vaapas Aaunga, starring Naseeruddin Shah, Diljit Dosanjh, Sharvari and Vedang Raina in lead roles. While the film has received an overwhelmingly positive critical response, its box office opening has been muted. According to trade tracker Sacnilk, the film collected Rs 1.15 crore net on Day 1, with gross earnings of Rs 1.38 crore.

On its opening day, the film was screened across 2,302 shows and registered an overall occupancy of 12.22%. The morning shows opened at 5.92% occupancy, which gradually rose to 10.77% in the afternoon, 10.85% in the evening, and peaked at 18.23% during night shows. Regionally, Delhi-NCR led in terms of show count with 308 screenings, recording an overall occupancy of 13%. Mumbai followed with 235 shows and an occupancy of 11%.

In comparison to Imtiaz Ali’s previous theatrical releases, the opening is significantly lower. His last release, Love Aaj Kal (starring Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan) opened to around Rs 12.4 crore, while Jab Harry Met Sejal, featuring Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma, opened at Rs 15.25 crore. The film also trails other major Imtiaz Ali titles such as Tamasha (Rs 10.95 crore), Highway (Rs 3.4 crore) and Rockstar (Rs 10.6 crore).

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When compared to Diljit Dosanjh’s last theatrical release Border 2, which opened at Rs 30 crore, Main Vaapas Aaunga falls far behind. Sharvari’s last outing Vedaa opened at Rs 6.3 crore, while Vedang Raina’s Jigra collected Rs 4.55 crore on Day 1, both higher than this film’s debut. Among recent romantic releases, the film also underperforms titles like Chand Mera Dil (Rs 3 crore) and Do Deewane Seher Mein (Rs 1.25 crore), while matching closely with Ek Din, which opened at Rs 1.15 crore.

The film also faces competition from other releases this week, including Governor and Bharat Bhagya Vidhata, and it remains to be seen how it performs over the weekend.