Kartik Aaryan’s Chandu Champion opened at Rs. 4.75 crore at the box-office on day 1, as per industry tracker Sacnilk.com. Directed by Kabir Khan, the film is based on the life of the country’s first paralympic gold medallist Murlikant Petkar, who was a jawan of the Craftsman rank in the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers in the Indian Army.

Kartik went through rigorous body transformation to play the role in the biopic. Speaking about it earlier, Kabir had revealed that Kartik lived like an athlete for over 1.5 years. He said, “I had to put in a huge team of physical trainers, physiotherapists, dietitians, boxing coaches, swimming coaches, and wrestling coaches. It was a massive team. And literally, for 1.5 years, Kartik has lived the life of an athlete. He would wake up early in the morning, go to the gym, have his food, and then go for a boxing session. Then come back and sleep. We even had to monitor his sleep."

The film is written by Kabir himself, Sumit Arora, and Sudipto Sarkar and also stars Vijay Raaz and Rajpal Yadav. It is jointly produced by Sajid Nadiadwala and Kabir Khan, and was released in theatres on June 14.

CE’s review of the film read, “An underdog, an undying hope and a war, Chandu Champion is a textbook Kabir Khan presentation. The director’s flair for the medium shines in the one-take sequence where Kartik’s Murlikant gets shot as warplanes bombard their army base (cinematography by Sudeep Chatterjee). The boxing matches, under a golden hue, have a feverish urgency. The film, however, remains a predictable sports drama with scenes like the one in which the simpleton lead screams his fright aboard his first flight. Chandu Champion performs during intense moments but its light interludes remain functional.”