The Indian box office saw a clash of movies on Friday, September 5th, with two Bollywood and two Hollywood titles competing for viewers. Among them were ‘Baaghi 4’, an action film starring Tiger Shroff and Sanjay Dutt, and Vivek Agnihotri’s political drama ‘The Bengal Files’. Hollywood contributed the horror film ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ and another major international release.
Despite moderate pre-release buzz and mixed audience reactions, ‘Baaghi 4’ generated more revenue than ‘The Bengal Files’. Here’s a look at how both Bollywood films performed.
‘Baaghi 4’ had a decent opening, collecting approximately Rs 12 crore net in India on its opening day. This initial figure, however, trailed behind the earlier films in the franchise. ‘Baaghi 3’ had opened with Rs 17.5 crore, and ‘Baaghi 2’ had a strong debut of Rs 25.10 crore. Even the first ‘Baaghi’ film managed to make Rs 11.85 crore.
Directed by Kannada filmmaker A Harsha, ‘Baaghi 4’ marks his Bollywood debut and is scheduled to release on September 5, 2025, with competition from Vivek Agnihotri’s ‘The Bengal Files’.
The ‘Baaghi’ series started in 2016 with Tiger Shroff and Shraddha Kapoor. While the first two films were commercially successful, ‘Baaghi 3’ received a less enthusiastic reception, partly attributed to the pandemic’s impact on cinema attendance.
‘The Bengal Files’, Vivek Agnihotri’s political drama featuring Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, and Darshan Kumaar, experienced a sluggish start, garnering only an estimated Rs 1.75 crore net in India on its debut. Despite pre-release discussions and its subject matter, the film struggled to attract substantial audiences on its first day.
The film’s release was accompanied by controversy, especially in West Bengal, where the trailer was not shown at its launch in Kolkata. Reports suggest that the film was not screened in any theaters across the state. Director Vivek Agnihotri claimed that theater owners were pressured to avoid showing it. Actress Pallavi Joshi escalated the issue, writing an open letter to the President of India, calling it an “unofficial ban,” despite the censor board raising no objections.
‘The Bengal Files’ is written and directed by Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, produced by Abhishek Agarwal, Pallavi Joshi and Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri. It stars Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, Anupam Kher, and Darshan Kumar. The film is a worldwide release by Zee Studios, presented by Tej Narayan Agarwal & I Am Buddha, and forms part of Vivek’s ‘Files’ trilogy, which includes ‘The Kashmir Files’ and ‘The Tashkent Files’.