New Delhi: Vicky Kaushal’s Chhaava has made history as the fastest period drama to cross the Rs 100 crore mark, achieving the feat in just three days. It has outpaced Deepika Padukone’s 2018 film, Padmaavat, which reached the milestone on its fourth day of release.
Directed by Laxman Utekar and starring Vicky Kaushal and Rashmika Mandanna, Chhaava is based on the life of Sambhaji, the second Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire and the son of Shivaji. It is adapted from the Marathi novel Chhava (1979), written by Shivaji Sawant. Dinesh Vijan’s Maddock Films has produced the film.
On its third day (Sunday), the movie collected Rs 48.5 crore, taking its total domestic collection to Rs 116.5 crore. On Monday, the film added another Rs 24 crore in India, taking the collection to Rs 140.5 crore, and its worldwide gross to Rs 168.6 crore.
After four days, collections for some popular period dramas were as follows: Padmaavat (Rs 114 crore), Tanhaji (Rs 75.68), Kesari (Rs 78.07 crore), and Bajirao Mastani (Rs 57.02 crore).
Chhaava has also become Bollywood’s first blockbuster of 2025. It is made on a reported budget of Rs 130 crore. The movie marks Kaushal’s sixth and Mandanna’s eighth film to reach the 100-crore club.
So far, Chhaava is Kaushal’s third-highest-grosser. It has already surpassed Sam Bahadur (2023) and is expected to overtake Raazi (2018) in the coming days.
It is also Mandanna’s fourth consecutive theatrical hit after Varisu (2023), Animal (2023), and Pushpa 2: The Rule (2024).
This is not it.
Chhaava’s first Monday collection is nearly double the combined earnings of recent Bollywood films such as Sky Force (Rs 7 crore), Deva (Rs 2.75 crore), Emergency (Rs 1.05 crore), Azaad (Rs 0.65 crore), Badass Ravikumar (Rs 0.6 crore) and Loveyapa (Rs 0.55 crore).
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The controversy
Ahead of its release, Chhaava landed in a controversy with the CBFC over the lezim dance sequence.
In the trailer, Kaushal, portraying Sambhaji, was shown performing the traditional dance alongside Mandanna, who plays his wife, Maharani Yesubai.
The scene sparked outrage, with many saying it was inappropriate for a king to take part in such a dance.
Several politicians, including Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, Uday Samant, and Raj Thackeray, also objected to it.
After a meeting with Thackeray, Utekar announced that the dance would be removed from the film.
“Lezim is an ancient dance form in Maharashtra, much like Garba in Gujarat or Bhangra in Punjab. Had it been featured in the film, lezim could have gained international recognition,” actor Ankit Anil Sharma told The Print.
Sharma plays Maratha warrior Santaji Ghorpade in Chhaava.
“People follow Vicky Kaushal’s dance moves, so the lezim would’ve likely taken over social media platforms like Instagram Reels,” he added.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)