Hanuman Ansh springs a surprise on box office despite Mirzapur, Toxic craze; delivers record 2,000% return, beating Dhurandhar

A ₹2 crore film with no conventional Bollywood star, limited initial screens, and almost no traditional blockbuster machinery behind it is now one of the biggest business stories at India's box office. Hanuman Ansh, Vishal Chaturvedi's devotional drama centred on spiritual figure Neem Karoli Baba, has turned a modest theatrical opening into an extraordinary late-run success.

According to box-office tracker Sacnilk, Hanuman Ansh had collected ₹131.63 crore net and ₹155.65 crore gross in India through Day 32, its last completed day. Day 33 tracking was still live at the time of writing, with the running India net at ₹132.59 crore and gross at ₹156.75 crore.

What is driving Hanuman Ansh's extraordinary box-office momentum?

The film's real disruption, however, lies in its momentum. After earning just ₹1.08 crore in its first week and ₹40 lakh in its second, Hanuman Ansh exploded in its third and fourth weeks, collecting ₹10.40 crore and ₹61 crore, respectively. Its fifth weekend then delivered ₹10 crore on Friday, ₹16.50 crore on Saturday and ₹22.75 crore on Sunday. Sacnilk's tracking shows the film adding another ₹9.50 crore on its fifth Monday.

That late surge has allowed the small-budget film to outpace much larger titles on several late-run daily benchmarks. Its ₹49.25 crore fifth weekend (Days 29 to 31) is comfortably ahead of what either Dhurandhar film managed at the same point in its own run. The original collected ₹33.25 crore across its fifth weekend, while Dhurandhar 2 managed ₹12.55 crore.

The comparison with Mirzapur: The Movie is also notable. The franchise film, which arrived with the strength of one of India's most popular streaming properties, collected ₹109.25 crore net in India by Day 4, according to Sacnilk. Hanuman Ansh has now crossed that figure despite taking more than a month to build its theatrical business.

Toxic, meanwhile, remains substantially ahead in cumulative collections, with ₹246.41 crore net and ₹294.09 crore gross in India by Day 13, while its worldwide gross stands at ₹337.39 crore. The significance of Hanuman Ansh is therefore not that it has surpassed Toxic in total revenue, but that its current late-stage theatrical momentum is remarkable compared with much larger star-led productions.

Audience response has amplified the business story. Hanuman Ansh currently carries an IMDb rating of around 9/10, reflecting strong viewer sentiment.

The film's trajectory offers a lesson for the theatrical business. Star power and franchise value can create an opening, but sustained word-of-mouth can create a market. Hanuman Ansh has converted an almost invisible ₹10 lakh opening into a ₹150 crore-plus domestic gross, demonstrating the commercial value of audience discovery and long theatrical legs.