Is PadMan not achieving the collections we have expected from the movie? Akshay Kumar's latest social drama had been riding on abundant hype and unique promotional strategies (PadMan challenge, anyone?). Earlier it was scheduled to release on January 25, clashing with Aiyaary for sure, but had a better edge thanks to Akshay Kumar's superior box office power. But then the makers of Padmaavat announced their plans to release their movie on the same day, coaxing both Aiyaary and Padman to move onto their new release dates.

While PadMan enjoyed a solo release on February 9, the box office collections of the movie have been rather underwhelming. As per the latest update, the movie has collected Rs 45.92 crore in its four day run, going by trade analyst Taran Adarsh's tweet. The movie has shown a dip in its Monday collections earning Rs 5.87 crore, while on Sunday, it had collected Rs 16.11 crore.

This kind of dip is not unusual for a Bollywood movie, but the issue with PadMan is that it has to sustain itself well in the days ahead to make itself profitable. But then arrives this Friday two major movies in Sidharth Malhotra's Aiyaary and the Hollywood superhero movie Black Panther. So it is quite an uphill task for PadMan to make a mark at the box office in the days ahead. But for the sake of the makers, we hope that Taran Adarsh's optimism in the favour of the movie works.

PadMan is directed by R Balki and marks the maiden production venture of Mrs Funnybones, Twinkle Khanna. The movie also stars Sonam Kapoor and Radhika Apte in the lead. PadMan is based on the life of Tamil Nadu-based social activist Arunachalam Muruganantham, who made low-cost sanitary pads for women in his village and won the Padma Shri for his efforts.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 13, 2018 03:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).