L2 Empuraan Box Office collection Day 3: Mohanlal’s movie nears ₹50 crore despite political backlash, voluntary cuts

L2 Empuraan Box Office Collection Day 3: Mohanlal and Prithviraj Sukumaran's latest Malayalam action drama, L2 Empuraan, a sequel to 2019's ‘Lucifer’, has earned nearly ₹50 crore at the Indian box office in three days of its release despite political backlash and 17 proposed voluntary cuts.

The movie, which released on March 27, will clash with Salman Khan's Sikandar at the box office starting Sunday, March 30.

According to industry tracker Sacnilk, Empuraan has also emerged as an all-time biggest Malayalam grosser at the overseas box office, nearing ₹150 crore gross collection. The movie had reportedly stormed past the ₹100 crore mark at the global box office within two days of its release.

L2 Empuraan Box Office collection Day 3

Sacnilk data showed that L2 Empuraan earned ₹16.4 crore on Saturday, Day 3 of its release. This is a welcomed 42.61% growth in the movie's earnings, which had declined by 45% on Friday, earning just ₹11.5 crore.

Empuraan had a promising opening at the box office with ₹21 crore in all languages on Friday.

The film was released in Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, and Telugu languages.

While the Malayalam version earned ₹15.28 crore on day 3, the Hindi one earned ₹41 lakh. The film in Telugu earned ₹26 lakh, and its Tamil release collected ₹45 lakh on March 29.

Empuraan, which had recorded over ₹50 crore in advance booking, has been able to mint only ₹48.9 crore in its three-day run in the theaters.

L2 Empuraan: Occupancy

Reportedly, L2: Empuraan had an overall 54.24% occupancy on Saturday for its Malayalam release. The Telugu version saw an overall 14.08% occupancy on March 29.

While the Tamil version had 24.96% occupancy on its first Saturday, the Hindi release registered an overall 6.76% occupancy on the same day.

L2 Empuraan: Controversy and cuts

Around 17 scenes are likely to be cut from the Mohanlal starrer movie L2: Empuraan, after the movie spurred massive backlash from right-wing supporters over what appears to be references to the 2002 Gujarat riots.

A producer aware of the matter told that the makers of Empuraan movie are considering “voluntary cuts” in the Mohanlal starrer movie, owing to a “lot of pressure” on them, reported The Hindu.

Reportedly, the 17 proposed cuts include a proposed name change for Baba Bajrangi, the antagonist who leads a mob, reported The Hindu.

The name of the character Baba Bajrangi seems to reference Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi, who was named as a key conspirator in the Naroda Patiya massacre during the 2002 Gujarat riots. Bajrangi was facing serious charges like murder, attempted murder, criminal conspiracy, instigating mob, rioting and unlawful assembly, among others.