Samantha's ‘Shaakuntalam’ managed to earn just Rs 5 crore on its first day of release.
Samantha Ruth Prabhu's highly-anticipated film ‘Shaakuntalam’ finally hit the theatres on April 14. Inspired by Kalidasa’s play ‘Abhijnanashakuntalam’, the drama received a mixed response from the audience and critics alike. At the box office too, ‘Shaakuntalam’ started off on a slow note and as per early trends, only managed to earn Rs 5 crore on Day 1 at the box office.
It cannot be missed that the film was released in a significant number of screens in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada. However, it didn’t draw huge crowds and earned Rs 5 crore across all languages, with an overall occupancy of 32.60 percent in the Telugu states.
Coming to the film, ‘Shaakuntalam’ is a mythological drama written and directed by Gunasekhar. Produced by Neelima Guna under Gunaa Teamworks, the film is distributed by Sri Venkateswara Creations. Based on a popular play ‘Abhijnanasakuntalam by Kalidasa’, the film features also stars Dev Mohan as Dushyanta, the king of Puru dynasty, apart from Mohan Babu, Jisshu Sengupta, Madhoo, Gautami, Aditi Balan and Ananya Nagalla in supporting roles.
Director Gunasekhar had earlier said that he wrote the script with Samantha in mind, and that no one could have essayed it better than her.
"The film traces the emotional journey of a woman who falls in love and the challenges fate throws at her. She's a character of inner strength who depicts her emotions with dignity and grace in all that she does. Her truth is her strength, all these emotions can only be portrayed by a wonderful performer like Samantha and she was our only choice to be able to create this epic", he had said.