Abhishek Bachchan has returned to the big screen with his latest release, I Want To Talk. The slice-of-life drama, based on the life of activist Arjun Sen, has been received well by critics but has failed to set the cash registers ringing. This is part of a pattern of Abhishek's most recent releases, all of which have won critical acclaim but fallen flat at the box office. 

I Want To Talk box office collection

I Want To Talk, directed by Shoojit Sircar, opened on Friday at ₹25 lakhs and managed just ₹1.30 crore net during its opening weekend. The low figure is less than half of what his last theatrical release—Ghoomer—had managed. The Saiyami Kher-starrer sports drama had earned ₹2.80 crore in its opening weekend. In fact, no Abhishek film has earned as low as I Want To Talk since Phir Milenge, which earned ₹88 lakh in its opening weekend 20 years ago.

Over the last few years, most of Abhishek's films have been released directly on streaming, bypassing the box office scrutiny that comes with theatrical releases. Films like Dasvi, Bob Biswas, The Big Bull, and Ludo were released directly on OTT. The actor has also appeared in the web series Breathe: Into The Shadows during this time, which has meant that his theatrical releases have been few and far between.

Abhishek Bachchan's box office report card

Before I Want To Talk, Abhishek's last release was Ghoomer, which earned ₹80 lakh on the first day and ₹4.83 crore net in its entire lifetime. The sports drama earned just ₹7 crore gross worldwide and was declared a flop. Before that, Abhishek was seen in Anurag Kashyap's 2018 romantic drama Manmarziyaan, which was also a box office bomb. The film, also starring Taapsee Pannu and Vicky Kaushal, earned ₹27 crore net in India and ₹40 crore worldwide.

Abhishek's last hit was Housefull 3, a multi-starrer released in 2016. The film earned ₹102 crore net in India and ₹195 crore gross globally. However, the film's success was credited to lead star Akshay Kumar's superstardom. Before that, Abhishek starred in All Is Well, a light comedy released in 2015. The box office bomb earned just ₹18 crore on a ₹28-crore budget.

Abhishek Bachchan's search for a solo hit

Abhishek's last five theatrical releases have been spaced out over nine years. Before that, he did have a phase when his films worked at the box office, but they were largely ensemble films. He was part of superhits like Happy New Year (worldwide gross ₹394 crore), Dhoom 3 ( ₹559 crore), and Bol Bachchan ( ₹165 crore), but all of these had bigger stars as the face of the film. Abhishek's last solo hit was Bunty Aur Babli, way back in 2005.

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