Riteish Deshmukh's Raja Shivaji Records Historic Advances; To Become Top Marathi Opener
Riteish Deshmukh’s biggest movie of his career Raja Shivaji which is also directed by the actor himself is a Marathi-Hindi bilingual and also features a big ensemble of stars including Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan, Genelia Deshmukh and Fardeen Khan among others.
The movie all set to rock the box office especially in its Marathi version as it has recorded a historic advance booking ahead of May 1 release.
Raja Shivaji is reportedly the most expensive Marathi movie made on a budget of Rs 100 crore with runtime of 3 hours and 7 minutes in Hindi and 3 hours and 15 minutes in Marathi.
According to the trade, Raja Shivaji is wreaking havoc at the box office in Marathi version and has sold over 1 lakh tickets, so far.
This means the Marathi version itself is all set for a double-digit opening day and may hit around Rs 13-14 crore on day one.
Moreover, if the word of mouth is favourable, Raja Shivaji
even has the potential to hit Rs 20 crore mark.In any case, it is already going to be the biggest Marathi opener of all time.
HISTORIC DAY FOR MARATHI CINEMA!🔥#RajaShivaji (Marathi) to open in DOUBLE-DIGITS tomorrow. Eyeing to sell 1 LAKH TICKETS in advances only.
— Aavishkar (@aavishhkar) April 30, 2026
It might clock ₹13-14Cr. If the WOM clicks, eve and late night shows will go OVERDRIVE mode.💥💥
THE BIGGEST SINGLE DAY EVER 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/qXsdJTg3TT
Having said that, the Hindi version of Raja Shivaji is on course to take a decent start of Rs 5 crore plus and again the number may go higher depending on how well the movie is received by the audiences post the morning shows.
Raja Shivaji is expected to hit Rs 20 crore plus on day one including both Marathi and Hindi versions and then sky is the limit for the period epic if the response is positive.
Interestingly, Riteish Deshmukh, so far, has a 100 percent track record in Marathi cinema.
In 2014, he made his acting debut with Lai Bhaari which was also produced by him and that became a box office blockbuster earning Rs 41 crore and was the top grossing Marathi movie at the time of the release.
It was followed by Mauli in 2018 which wasn’t as well received and made Rs 26 crore on a Rs 10 crore budget.
In 2022, Riteish made his directorial debut with Ved which became a box office blockbuster earning Rs 75.50 crore and is the third biggest grossing movie of Marathi cinema.
The top grossing Marathi movie and the only one to hit Rs 100 crore in the industry is Sairat. Raja Shivaji has the potential to not only take down that number but also create history by even going past Rs 200 crore domestically.