The Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor rom-com recorded ₹9.25 Cr on Day 1, with occupancy picking up in evening shows. It faces massive competition from Kantara: Chapter 1, which opened to a staggering ₹60 Cr on the same day.
October 3, 2025: The new Dharma romantic comedy, Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari, starring Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor alongside Sanya Malhotra and Rohit Saraf, opened to a modest start on Thursday (October 2), collecting an estimated ₹9.25 crore across India on its first day.
Directed by Shashank Khaitan and produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, the film recorded an overall occupancy of 34.08 per cent in its predominantly Hindi release.
Occupancy Trends and Competition
The box office performance showed the film struggled to find morning footfalls, with morning shows recording only 14.77 per cent occupancy. However, audience interest picked up substantially through the day:
- Afternoon Shows: 38.93 per cent
- Evening Shows: 43.65 per cent (Highest turnout)
- Night Shows: 38.95 per cent
Despite this momentum, the film is facing intense pressure from the massive box office success of the Kannada prequel, Kantara: Chapter 1. The Rishab Shetty-starrer, which also released on October 2nd, earned a thunderous estimated ₹60 crore across all languages on its opening day, with its Hindi-dubbed version alone contributing approximately ₹19-21 crore.
Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari’s opening figures illustrate the sheer challenge of competing with a pan-India blockbuster phenomenon on the same release date. While Kantara leveraged massive advance buzz, strong word-of-mouth, and franchise momentum, the Varun-Janhvi rom-com drew a modest audience.
The film, which also features Maniesh Paul, Abhinav Sharma, Akshay Oberoi, and Manini Chadha, has received a generally positive critical response calling it “one of the best romantic comedies we have seen in recent times.”
The coming holiday weekend will be absolutely crucial. The film must attract sustained audience interest, particularly in urban and multiplex centres, to build momentum and hold its ground against the Kantara.