Housefull 4 has become the second Akshay Kumar film of 2019 to cross the Rs 200 crore mark domestically. The filmmakers on Tuesday announced that the ensemble comedy has made Rs 200.58 crore in India so far, which is just Rs 2 crore behind Akshay’s last release, Mission Mangal.
Actor Kriti Sanon shared the news on Instagram, with a special celebratory video. She captioned it, “Woooohhhhoooo!! Thank you for 200crores of happiness and love.” The milestone establishes Akshay as the highest grossing actor of the year; earnings of his films are Rs 542 crore, ahead of Hrithik Roshan, whose film’s earnings stand at Rs 463 crore. Hrithik scored back-to-back hits with Super 30 and War.
Housefull 4 is Akshay’s second highest grosser ever, ahead of Kesari, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha and Rustom.
Producer Sajid Nadiadwala’s wife, Warda, wrote on Instagram, “Thank u thank thank.... we love you and thank all u lovely people out there, for the Housefull response and love and rewarding the team with this milestone and still counting. God bless u’ll.”
Meanwhile, actor Riteish Deshmukh wrote on Instagram, “The entire journey was full of madness, entertainment and fun! But it wouldn’t have been possible without you! Thank you for 200 crores of happiness and love. Experience this madness if you haven’t today!”
Housefull 4 defied poor reviews to become a box office success. The film is directed by Farhad Samji, who replaced original filmmaker Sajid Khan, who was removed after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct. Akshay had issued a statement that he would never work with anyone proven to be guilty of such behaviour. His co-star Chunky Pandey, however, has publically defended Sajid.
The film was also involved in a controversy regarding the reporting of its box office numbers, which some detractors claimed were inflated. Akshay responded to the allegations and said, “There is a studio called Fox Star Studios (involved with the film) it has a big credibility. It is a corporate. It runs from LA. It is not possible. We should use our brains. They make films of millions and millions of dollars and for them to increase by three or five nothing will happen. So, let’s talk sense. They (Fox Star Studios) are writing it on their own (Twitter) handle and it goes everywhere, they have to report to everyone. Nobody is going to lie this.”
Follow @htshowbiz for more
