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Shock to Bobby Deol’s ‘Bandar’ at the box office: Why did ‘Bandar’ stop in front of Ram Charan and Varun Dhawan’s films?
Samira Vishwas | June 5, 2026 1:24 PM CST

The coin of Bobby Deol, who made a grand comeback in Bollywood through blockbuster films and web series like ‘Animal’ and ‘Ashram’, is trending everywhere at the moment. But the news coming this week about his latest film ‘Bandar’ at the box office is a bit surprising. This week there is a fierce competition between films in theaters, due to which Bobby Deol’s film is not getting the initial attention as was expected. Actually, on June 4, South superstar Ram Charan’s pan-India film ‘Peddi’ was released. The very next day i.e. on June 5, Varun Dhawan’s ‘Hai Jawaani To Ishq Hona Hai’ and Bobby Deol’s ‘Bandar’ were to hit the theatres. But the surprising thing is that while Varun Dhawan and Ram Charan’s films got morning shows from 9 am onwards, according to BookMyShow, the shows of Bobby Deol’s ‘Bandar’ are being booked from 12:30 pm onwards. Even the old release ‘Pati Patni Aur Woh 2’ is getting morning shows. Fewer shows and such a late start clearly shows that the film is being treated a little differently in theatres. Mainly 5 big reasons are believed to be behind this: 1. Having ‘Adult’ (A) certificate. The film ‘Bandar’ directed by Anurag Kashyap has got ‘A’ (Adult) certificate from the Censor Board. In this film, actors like Sanya Malhotra, Raj B Shetty, Sapna Pabbi and Saba Azad are in lead roles along with Bobby Deol. The script of the film has been written by the duo of Sudeep Sharma and Abhishek Banerjee, who are previously known for cult and dark series-films like ‘Paatal Lok’, ‘Kohra’ and ‘Udta Punjab’. Due to having an ‘A’ certificate, this film completely alienates the family audience, who like to watch films in theaters in the morning. 2. Serious and dark subjects of Anurag Kashyap’s films: Anurag Kashyap is counted among those Bollywood directors who are famous for his offbeat and bold films. His films are generally realistic, dark, crime, political or based on serious social issues. His track record includes films like ‘Black Friday’, ‘Dev D’, ‘Gulaal’, ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ and ‘Kennedy’. Such films are not mass-entertainers or light-hearted, which people like to watch early in the morning. This is the reason why multiplex operators are keeping their shows more in the afternoon or evening. 3. Tremendous craze of Hollywood film ‘Obsession’: At present, Indian films are not the only competition at the box office. There is a huge craze for Hollywood horror and thriller film ‘Obsession’ in theatres. Made with a very modest budget of just Rs 9 crore, this ‘R’ rated film has so far made a record breaking collection of Rs 1400 crore worldwide. Indian audiences are also turning to theaters in large numbers to watch this exciting film, due to which ‘Bandar’ has suffered a direct loss. 4. Pressure of a big Hollywood release like ‘He-Man’: Along with Varun Dhawan’s film on June 5, many big Hollywood films are also in the queue. These include films like ‘Masters of the Universe’ based on the famous ‘He-Man’ character, the comedy franchise ‘Scary Movie 6’ and ‘Power Ballad’. These foreign films have also been given good screen space in theatres. 5. Huge hype of ‘Peddi’ and buzz of Varun Dhawan’s film. The biggest reason for ‘Bandar’ getting less attention is the pre-release business and huge hype of other films. Ram Charan’s film ‘Peddi’ has taken a bumper opening at the box office as soon as it was released. Coming after the historic success of ‘RRR’, the film did a pre-release business of Rs 135 crore in Telugu states alone and a total of Rs 220 crore worldwide. On the very first day, this film has made a spectacular opening of Rs 61 crore in India and Rs 111 crore worldwide. On the other hand, Varun Dhawan’s film ‘Hai Jawaani Toh Ishq Hona Hai’ was in the news for the last several days due to Vashu Bhagnani’s case and controversy over his song ‘Chunari Chunari’. The film benefited from this controversy and created good curiosity among the audience, due to which it got better screens and morning shows than ‘Bandar’. Understand the current box office competition at a glance. Will the pace of ‘Bandar’ increase? Although ‘Bandar’ got less shows in the beginning, Anurag Kashyap’s films have their own special audience. If the story of the film becomes strong and it gets good reviews (word of mouth), then we can definitely see an increase in the number of shows in the coming days and on weekends.


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