Riteish Deshmukh's Raja Shivaji beats Sairat's lifetime haul, becomes highest-grossing Marathi film ever

IN 2016, Sairat created chronicle by comely the number one mahratti take to cross the ₹100 crore mark at the worldwide box office. For nearly a decade, no Marathi film managed to break that record. Now, Riteish Deshmukh’s historical drama Raja Shivaji has achieved the feat and emerged as the highest-grossing Marathi film of all time. (Also read: Almost gave up, but it kept coming back: Riteish Deshmukh on decade long journey of 'Raja Shivaji')Raja Shivaji's box office performance so farThe film has shown a strong and consistent performance at the box office since its release. Raja Shivaji opened to impressive numbers and earned more than ₹30 crore net during its first weekend itself. It continued its successful run through the following weeks, collecting ₹57.70 crore net by the end of its first week and ₹84 crore net by the end of the second week. Even in its third week, the film has maintained a steady hold in theatres. According to the latest box office figures, Raja Shivaji collected ₹1.70 crore on its third Friday, ₹2.90 crore on third Saturday and ₹3.80 crore on third Sunday. With these numbers, the film’s total India gross collection has reached ₹109.90 crore, while the India net collection stands at ₹93 crore. The film has also earned ₹4.90 crore overseas, taking its worldwide gross total to ₹114.80 crore.With this achievement, Raja Shivaji has officially surpassed Sairat’s lifetime worldwide collection of ₹110 crore gross. Sharing the milestone on Instagram, Jio Studios wrote, “The glorious saga of Hindavi Swarajya has awakened pride in every heart!”About Raja ShivajiWritten and directed by Riteish Deshmukh, the film has been produced by Genelia D'Souza and Jyoti Deshpande under the banners of Mumbai Film Company and Jio Studios. The historical drama features Riteish and Genelia in lead roles along with an ensemble cast including Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek Bachchan, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sachin Khedekar, Bhagyashree, Fardeen Khan, Jitendra Joshi and Amole Gupte.The film also marked the acting debut of Riteish and Genelia’s sons, Riaan and Rahyl, who portrayed different stages of the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.Although the film received mixed reviews from critics upon release, strong word-of-mouth from audiences helped it sustain its box office run. Speaking to PTI earlier, Riteish described Shivaji Maharaj as a childhood hero for many Maharashtrians. He said that stories about the Maratha ruler are deeply rooted in their upbringing and continue to hold emotional significance across generations.