MUMBAI: Prakash Jha’s latest release, political thriller ‘Chakravyuh’, starring Arjun Rampal, Abhay Deol, Manoj Bajpayee, Esha Gupta and newcomer Anjali Patil in pivotal roles has taken a very poor launch at the Box Office.

‘Chakravyuh’ released on 24th October. The hard-hitting film, which revolves around the twin themes of naxalism and corruption that is deep rooted in the fabric of Indian society, has failed draw in audiences.

The first day collections were dismal, with an occupancy of just about 25%.

The most response came from U.P, Rajasthan and Central India, but the film performed extremely poorly in the South. This is probably due to the fact that cine-goers were busy with the big Indian festival Dussehra.

On its opening day ‘Chakravyuh’ has raked in a dull approximate Rs 35 million (Rs 3.5 crore) net.

The film is also facing stiff competition from Karan Johar’s candy-floss teenybopper romance ‘Student of the Year’, which is seen doing brisk business in metros and multiplexes.

In comparison, SOTY has raked in close to double of ‘Chakravyuh’, a good Rs 65 million (6.5 crore) net, on Wednesday itself.

The 7 day total for Johar’s film is Rs 450 million (45 crore) net, which is an extremely respectable figure for a film which has only newcomers (Alia Bhatt, Siddharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan).

‘Chakravyuh’ was recently under legal scrutiny for use of “objectionable” terms in the song “Mehengai”, the release of which the Court has stayed due to a legal case on the film’s makers by footwear giant Bata.

It remains to be seen how the audiences react to the film, which has been getting rave reviews at the London Film Festival and from critics at home; Also if the film can pick up from this very slow start.

The film’s stars, Arjun Rampal and Abhay Deol have been lauded for their exceptional performances.