Bambukat 2 collected Rs. 80-85 lakh (Rs. 65-70 lakh nett) approx on its second day at the Indian box office, which brings its 2-day total to Rs. 1.40 crore (Rs. 1.15 crore nett) approx. There was a 40 per cent growth in business, which is good, but the business remains at low levels. There should be a big growth today, as Punjabi films do strongly on Sundays, and since the business is at a low level, the growth in percentage could turn out to be particularly big.
Overseas, the film is faring comparatively better, especially in Canada. There, it is outperforming Saunkan Saunkanay 2, the highest-grossing Punjabi film domestically over the past two years. The two-day overseas box office gross stands at USD 475K (Rs. 4.35 crore) approx, giving the film a worldwide box office gross of Rs. 5.75 crore approx. Led by Ammy Virk and Binnu Dhillon, the film is now eyeing a weekend total in the range of Rs. 9-9.50 crore approx.
The Punjabi film box office in India has fallen off from the highs of the 2010s, when the business was growing and sort of peaked towards the end of the decade. The quality of films aside, one of the major driving factors is demographic change. A sustained wave of emigration in the late 2010s and early 2020s has reshaped the core audience base. A large chunk of the business has shifted from India to overseas markets like Canada and Australia. It is now common for overseas collections to be multiple times higher than those in India. In contrast, pre-COVID, the business used to be more domestic-heavy, with rarely any film collecting more overseas than in India.
Additionally, the industry is facing a double whammy by missing out on some potential big grossers that have not secured a release in India due to external factors, such as featuring Pakistani artists (Sardaar Ji 3 and Chal Mera Putt 4) or facing censor issues (Punjab 95). Audiences are also not as keen on giving original films a chance as they were in the previous decade, with comedy sequels being the only ones getting traction from time to time. However, lately, even some of these comedy sequels are failing, with Bambukat 2 seemingly the latest addition to that list.
