L2: Empuraan Box Office Collection Day 6: Mohanlal's Action Thriller Sees Drop on First Tuesday, Undergoes Re-Certification Amid Controversy
For the first time since its release, the film's daily box-office numbers fell below Rs10 crore.
Mohanlal, the Mollywood star's newest film L2: Empuraan has seen its India Box office collection fall on its sixth day in the box office. For the first time since its theatrical release, the film's daily box-office numbers fell below Rs10 crore.
The film grossed Rs21 crore in its opening day. It also made Rs11.1 crore its first Friday. Empuraan's India box office total amounted to Rs79.15 Crores as of Tuesday.
On April 1, the film's Malayalam cinema had an overall occupancy rate of 51.35 percent, while its Telugu showings had an occupancy rate of 12.28 percent. L2: According to the film trade portal Sacnilk, Empuraan Tamil and Hindi recorded occupancy of 17.46 percent and 9.04 percent, respectively.
The film's producers have also made 24 "voluntary cut" totaling 2.08 minutes, after a sustained and strong backlash by the audience regarding the scenes that appeared to portray the Gujarat riots of 2002 as well as the 'anti-Hindu ideology'.
The regional officer of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), who certified the CBFC cuts, released it for the first time on Tuesday evening. According to the Re-censored film certification, changes were made to the film, including the name of Balraj, aka Baba Bajrangi. The antagonist leads a mob.
This was interpreted as a reference towards the Bajrang Dal Leader Baba Bajrangi controversy, who was sentenced for life imprisonment in 2002 after being convicted of masterminding the Naroda Patiya Massacre. In the re-censored edition, Baldev has been given as a new name.
The display card also changed the date of the event from 'India 2002 to a few years back'.
Films with vehicles in front a religious building, violence against women and dead bodies were removed. A Film controversy between Zayed Masood and his father (played in the film by Prithviraj Sukumaran) during the riots has also been removed.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), a fictional organization that portrayed the ruling political party as targeting political rivals, was also removed, and all audio mentions of the NIA were muted.
