By Irshad Khan 
Diwali 2025 witnessed an intense box office battle between two contrasting films: Ayushmann Khurrana’s horror-comedy Thamma and the romantic drama Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat starring Harshvardhan Rane and Sonam Bajwa. Both films released on October 21, 2025, capturing audiences’ attention through different storytelling approaches. While Thamma dominated with its star power and massive screen count, Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat emerged as an unlikely success story on a limited release. This detailed box office report examines both films’ performance and what their numbers reveal about audience preferences during the festive season.
Sources
Thamma’s Dominant Box Office Performance
Ayushmann Khurrana’s Thamma, the fifth installment in Maddock Films’ horror-comedy universe, opened to an impressive ₹25.1 crore net on its opening day (Tuesday, October 21). The film benefited significantly from the festive Diwali period and Khurrana’s star power, capitalizing on anticipation built through aggressive marketing campaigns. The horror-romance narrative, combined with the cast’s previous success in the genre, attracted family audiences to multiplexes across major cities. However, the post-Diwali period witnessed predictable trends, with collections settling into sustainable patterns over the following days.
By the end of its first six days, Thamma accumulated an impressive ₹91.7 crore net (approximately ₹108.27 crore gross), cementing its position as the clear frontrunner of the Diwali clash. The film’s box office trajectory revealed strong audience retention, with the first Saturday (Day 5) generating approximately ₹14.5 crore net and Sunday (Day 6) maintaining momentum with ₹13 crore net. This consistent weekend performance indicated quality word-of-mouth and audience appreciation, even as the novelty factor gradually diminished. The film’s success positioned it as Ayushmann Khurrana’s fifth-highest-grossing film of all time, surpassing box office benchmarks set by previous successful releases.
Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat’s Surprise Success Story
Despite releasing on approximately three times fewer screens than Thamma, Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat emerged as an unexpected box office success. The romantic drama, directed by Milap Milan Zaveri and produced by Play DMF, opened with a respectable ₹9 crore net—an impressive figure given the film’s limited theatrical distribution and lower marketing budget. The film’s opening day collection matched the first-day performance of Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari, a significant achievement considering the vast disparity in screen count and production scale between the two releases.
What distinguished Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat‘s performance was its exceptional holding power throughout the week. Where most limited releases experience significant drops post-Diwali, this film sustained audience interest through positive word-of-mouth and its appeal to regional audiences in B and C centers. By the end of its six-day opening weekend, the film accumulated ₹40.94 crore net (approximately ₹48.6 crore gross), with the film appearing positioned to cross the ₹50 crore mark within its opening week. This trajectory proved particularly impressive given the film’s modest ₹25 crore production budget, rendering it profitable within mere days and positioning it for eventual lifetime collections approaching ₹70 crore net.
Genre, Cast Appeal, and Audience Demographics
Thamma operates within Maddock Films’ established horror-comedy universe, benefiting from franchise recognition and audience anticipation accumulated through previous successful installments including Stree, Bhediya, and Stree 2. Ayushmann Khurrana’s participation further elevated expectations, his successful track record in genre cinema translating to audience confidence and multiplex bookings. The film features Rashmika Mandanna and Nawazuddin Siddiqui as vampires, with Khurrana positioned as a journalist navigating their romantic entanglement—a premise combining action, horror, and romantic elements designed to appeal broadly across age groups and gender demographics. The film’s rating of UA (Unrestricted Public Exhibition) enabled family viewership, significantly expanding addressable markets during the festive Diwali period when multi-generational cinema attendance peaks.
Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat positions itself as a romantic drama, a genre historically less dependent on franchise recognition or star power, instead emphasizing narrative substance and emotional authenticity. Starring Harshvardhan Rane (known for Sanam Teri Kasam) and Sonam Bajwa (gaining prominence through Telugu cinema), the film targeted youth audiences and regional markets where emotional narratives resonate stronger than visual spectacle or franchise association. The film’s limited initial reception (negative reviews were reported) paradoxically contributed to word-of-mouth mechanisms, as audiences discovering genuine emotional resonance beyond critical consensus actively promoted the film within social networks. This organic audience advocacy created the sustained momentum observed in daily collection patterns, contrasting with Thamma‘s more traditional blockbuster trajectory reflecting marketing penetration rather than sustained consumer enthusiasm.
Future Projections and Lifetime Box Office Estimates
Industry projections based on six-day collections anticipated Thamma to achieve lifetime domestic collections between ₹150-180 crore net, with worldwide totals potentially exceeding ₹200 crore gross. The film’s strong weekend performance and franchise positioning suggested sustained weekday holds through mid-week, though the gradual weekday collections observed in Days 2-4 indicated audience attrition once novelty factors dissipated. The film’s success would cement its position among Ayushmann Khurrana’s highest-grossing vehicles while validating Maddock Films’ horror-comedy universe strategy. However, the film’s performance would likely plateau before reaching the ₹250 crore+ lifetime collections commanded by premium tier Bollywood releases, reflecting the specialized appeal of horror-comedy relative to mainstream drama or action cinema.
Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat faced more uncertain yet potentially lucrative lifetime projections. Trade analysts estimated lifetime collections between ₹65-80 crore net based on six-day performance and anticipated second-week trends. The film’s profit realization occurred remarkably early relative to its modest budget, with trade estimates suggesting the film recouped its production investment plus distribution costs within 4-5 days. Sustained holding power through the second week and gradual regional theater expansion as traditional multiplexes received diminishing footfalls suggested potential for extended theatrical viability. This sustained second and third-week performance would represent exceptional returns for the film’s stakeholders, positioning it as one of 2025’s surprise successes and demonstrating that high-volume marketing spend couldn’t replicate organic audience advocacy generated through content substance and authentic storytelling.