While Vicky Kaushal and Yami Gautam's film Uri: The Surgical Strike is currently minting big money at the box office, the competition will become fierce at the ticket windows as Kangana Ranaut's Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi and Nawazuddin Siddiqui's Thackeray will hit the theatres tomorrow, January 25. Though both the films are biopic, they are set in different eras and star two of the most prominent actors from the film industry. When it comes to acting, both Kangana and Nawazuddin are considered powerhouse of talent and hence their clashing at the box office has got everyone excited and curious at the same time. Manikarnika - The Queen of Jhansi Quick Movie Review: Kangana Ranaut's Magnum Opus is Engaging in Parts.

All we want to know is which film will eventually race ahead at the box office and win the battle. While only time will tell whose film will rule at the BO, for now, it seems Kangana's Manikarnika has better chances of witnessing a good opening than Thackeray only because the former is a story about a warrior queen that we have all heard and know about. It's a story which has the potential to appease a wider audience across India whereas Thackeray may or may not interest many outside Maharashtra or for that matter outside India.

Talking about the same, film exhibitor and distributor Akshaye Rathi told us, "Both the films that are releasing revolve around the theme of patriotism. So both of them look really good but the engine for Thackeray’s run has got to be Maharashtra – for Hindi as well as the Marathi version. And on the other hand, we have the story of Jhansi that each one of us has heard as children and to see that story that we have all heard grown up listening to in the audio-visual format with this kind of spectacle as you en scale I think is really exciting. Of course, in the end, what’s going to matter is how well the film is made and how engaging is the narrative. So if the filmmakers have got that right then Manikarnika will do wonders."

As for the overall buzz around Thackeray, Rathi points out, "Yeah, there is a substantial buzz in Maharashtra. Outside of Maharashtra, not as much because as charming and as charismatic a leader Balasaheb Thackeray was, he was primarily a hero of Maharashtra. So here there is curiosity around watching the biopic but outside Maharashtra and India, I understand it could be slightly lesser but not less nonetheless." Thackeray Movie: Review, Box Office Collection, Budget, Story, Trailer, Music of Nawazudin Siddiqui, Amrita Rao Film.

Also, Kangana, who has co-directed the war drama, has left no stone unturned in promoting her film. From garnering positive reviews for the trailer to grabbing headlines courtesy all the controversies surrounding her film, Kangana has been in the news constantly ever since Manikarnika was announced. And all this noise will indeed help Kangana in pulling the crowd to the cinema halls to a certain extent. Having said that, Thackeray has Nawazuddin in the lead who is known to outperform himself every time he graces the screen. So all in all, it will be a fair battle at the box office between both the films.

In fact, Manikarnika and Thackeray are both expected to open with single digit figures. According to Rathi, Manikarnika should possibly do around Rs 8 – 9 crore on the opening day. As for Thackeray, it entirely depends on the kind of excitement it manages to create especially in the state of Maharashtra.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 24, 2019 05:03 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).