'The Vvaan: Force of the Forrest' Survives Week 1, Crosses ₹50 Crore Net Before the 'Drishyam 3' Storm

In a week crowded with new releases, the forest held its ground. The Vvaan: Force of the Forrest, Sidharth Malhotra and Tamannaah Bhatia's supernatural thriller, has completed its first week in theatres with a steady, unspectacular-but-solid run that has taken it past the ₹50 crore net mark in India — a genuine achievement for a mid-budget genre film that opened to mixed reviews.

According to trade estimates, the film collected around ₹4.40 crore net on its seventh day, taking its India net total to approximately ₹53.50 crore. The India gross stands near ₹63.57 crore, with overseas markets contributing roughly ₹5.50 crore for a worldwide gross in the region of ₹69 crore. The trajectory tells the story of a film that found its audience slowly: it opened at ₹8 crore, grew over the weekend to a best-day haul of ₹14.35 crore on Sunday, and then refused to collapse on weekdays — a Tuesday surge to ₹6 crore, aided by discounted ticket rates, was the week's standout surprise.

Mass circuits to the rescue

Trade observers have pointed to the film's acceptance in mass circuits as the engine of its run. The weekday holds stayed remarkably flat — the film barely dipped through its first full week — and occupancy, while modest at around 17% on its seventh day, kept improving toward night shows, the classic signature of a film running on genuine audience interest rather than front-loaded hype. With a reported production budget in the ₹80 crore region, the film is not yet in the clear, but it has given itself a fighting chance.

Now comes the real test

Week two is where the story gets dramatic. Ajay Devgn's Drishyam: The Conclusion exploded onto the scene on October 2 with a record-shattering opening, and it will inevitably eat into The Vvaan's screens and shows. The Friday holiday helped cushion the blow, but screen retention over the coming days will decide whether this becomes a certified hit or a respectable near-miss.

Directed by Deepak Kumar Mishra, the film draws on folklore surrounding the Maa Van Devi Temple near Bihta in Bihar — local traditions about the forest after sunset reportedly shaped its premise — and co-stars Anup Soni, Sunil Grover, Shweta Tiwari and Maniesh Paul. For Malhotra, coming off a string of underperformers, a steady ₹50-crore-plus run is already a meaningful reset. Whether the forest survives the Salgaonkar storm is the box office question of the week.

The folklore angle deserves a moment of its own. Hindi cinema has been mining regional myths with growing confidence in recent years, and The Vvaan's decision to root its horror in the lived traditions of the Bihta region — rather than generic haunted-house tropes — is likely a big part of why mass-circuit audiences embraced it. The film treats its setting as a character, and viewers in the Hindi heartland responded to seeing their own stories reflected with scale and sincerity. It is a reminder that for all the industry's obsession with pan-India spectacle, specificity still sells tickets.

For Malhotra personally, the run carries extra weight. After a prolonged stretch of underperforming releases, the actor needed a theatrical success to reset the narrative around his box office pull — and a genre film crossing ₹50 crore on word of mouth does exactly that. Bhatia, meanwhile, continues her remarkable run as one of the most bankable crossover stars working across industries. If week two holds anywhere near week one's trajectory, The Vvaan will be remembered as one of the season's quiet success stories.