Param Sundari opens in India with mixed reviews and early box office

Param Sundari, the crosscultural romantic comedy starring Sidharth Malhotra and Janhvi Kapoor, opened in Indian theatres on August 29, prompting a busy promotional run, mixed critical reaction and a patchwork of early box office figures. Directed by Tushar Jalota and produced under the Maddock Films banner, the film follows a Delhi entrepreneur who, testing an AI matchmaking app, travels to Kerala and becomes entangled with a homestay owner as their cultural differences spark both humour and drama.

Industry trackers offered differing estimates of the film's start. Some trade figures put the opening day net between Rs 5 crore and Rs 7.25 crore, while weekend totals were reported in the range of Rs 26.75 crore to Rs 26.95 crore. By day four the film had crossed the Rs 30 crore mark domestically according to several box office tallies, and a subsequent weekday surge took the five-day cumulative to roughly Rs 34 crore in one set of trade figures. Analysts flagged a sharp Monday drop after a strong weekend but noted an uptick on Tuesday in certain cities. Estimates of screen count and budget also varied, with releases citing roughly 2,500 to 2,700 screens and production costs...