Epic action scene from O'Romeo O'Romeo box office collection

O’Romeo Box Office Collection: The Complete Day-Wise Breakdown, What the Critics Said, and Whether It’s Worth Watching

Vishal Bhardwaj and Shahid Kapoor have made three films together — Kaminey (2009), Haider (2014), and now O’Romeo (2026). The first two are among the finest Hindi films of the 21st century. The third is something more complicated: gorgeous to look at, anchored by Shahid’s best work in years, and let down by a screenplay that can’t match the ambition of everyone else involved.

That tension — between the film’s considerable craft and its narrative frustrations — played out directly at the box office. O’Romeo box office collection told a familiar story: a strong opening weekend on the back of star power and Valentine’s Day timing, followed by the kind of weekday drop that happens when audiences find a film impressive but not quite unmissable.

Here is the complete picture: every day’s numbers, the full critical verdict, the BookMyShow review controversy, and whether it’s worth your time before the Amazon Prime Video premiere.


O’Romeo — Quick Film Facts

🎬 O’Romeo (2026) — At a Glance Director / Writer / Music: Vishal Bhardwaj
Lyrics: Gulzar
Cinematography: Ben Bernhard
Editor: Praveen Prabhakar
Music (additional): Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (additional songs)
Producer: Sajid Nadiadwala (Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment)
Audio rights: T-Series
Based on: Mafia Queens of Mumbai by Hussain Zaidi
Cast: Shahid Kapoor (Ustara), Triptii Dimri (Afshan), Nana Patekar (Ismail Khan), Avinash Tiwary (Jalal), Tamannaah Bhatia (Rabia), Disha Patani (Julie), Farida Jalal (Dadi), Vikrant Massey (Mehboob — special appearance), Aruna Irani (special appearance), Hussain Dalal (Chotu)
Release date: February 13, 2026 (Valentine’s Day weekend)
Runtime: 178 minutes (2 hr 58 min)
CBFC rating: A (Adults Only) — for graphic violence and strong language
OTT: Amazon Prime Video (post-theatrical; date TBC)
Filming: January–August 2025, primarily in Mumbai and Spain
⭐ IMDb 5.8Critics: Mixed (avg 2.5–3/5)Audience: Divided

The Numbers · Full Box Office Data

O’Romeo Box Office Collection — Complete Day-Wise Breakdown

Day Date India Net (₹ Cr) Change Note
Day 1 — Friday Feb 13 8.50 Solid opening; lower than Deva (2025)
Day 2 — Saturday Feb 14 12.65 +48.8% Valentine’s Day boost; largest single-day collection
Day 3 — Sunday Feb 15 9.00 −28.9% Ind vs Pak T20 match hurt evening shows
Day 4 — Monday Feb 16 4.85 −46.1% Sharp weekday drop — mixed WOM kicking in
Day 5 — Tuesday Feb 17 5.35 +10.3% Slight uptick; Valentine’s week carryover
Day 6 — Wednesday Feb 18 3.65 −31.8% Settling into its audience
Day 7 — Thursday Feb 19 3.10 −15.1% Week 1 close
Week 1 Total 47.10 Respectable; below superhit threshold
Day 8 — Friday Feb 20 2.15 −30.7% No competition, but numbers declining
Day 9 — Saturday Feb 21 3.40 +58.1% Weekend recovery
Day 10 — Sunday Feb 22 3.15 −7.4% Holding on weekends
Day 11 — Monday Feb 23 1.60 −49.2% Steep weekday fall Week 2
Day 12 — Tuesday Feb 24 1.65 +3.1% Flat
Day 13 — Wednesday Feb 25 1.25 −24.2% Declining
Day 14 — Thursday Feb 26 1.25 0% Stable but low
Week 2 Total 14.45 −69.3% drop from Week 1
Day 15 — Friday Feb 27 1.15 −8.0% Limited screens
Day 16 — Saturday Feb 28 1.30 +13.0% Weekend blip
📊 O’Romeo Box Office Collection — Final Totals (as of March 1, 2026) India Net: ~₹64 crore (estimated, still running in limited screens)
India Gross: ~₹75.6 crore
Overseas: ~₹24 crore gross (2.38 million USD)
Worldwide Gross: ~₹99.6 crore
Opening Weekend (India Net): ₹30.15 crore
Week 1 (India Net): ₹47.1 crore
Verdict: Average — below the breakeven threshold for a film of this scale and pedigree
Context: What these numbers mean For a Vishal Bhardwaj–Shahid Kapoor–Sajid Nadiadwala production with this cast depth and a nearly three-hour runtime, the expectation going in was ₹80–90 crore India net for a superhit verdict. At ₹64 crore, O’Romeo falls into the “average to below average” box office bracket — commercially disappointing given the talent involved, though not a catastrophe. The film became the 3rd highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2026 by Day 3 (behind Border 2 and Dhurandhar re-runs), which contextualises the Valentine’s weekend market it was opening into.

The Story · What Actually Happens

What Is O’Romeo About? The Plot, the Real Inspiration, and the World It Builds

Film Premise

O’Romeo — Based on Mafia Queens of Mumbai by Hussain Zaidi

Mumbai, 1995 · Gangster Romance · Rated A (Adults Only)

The year is 1995. Ustara (Shahid Kapoor) is a feared hitman in Mumbai’s underworld — named for the barber’s razor he uses to kill his targets. He works for Intelligence Bureau officer Ismail Khan (Nana Patekar), who provides Ustara protection in exchange for eliminating criminals. One day, a mysterious woman named Afshan (Triptii Dimri) arrives at Ustara’s hideout and asks him to eliminate three people: a lawyer (Resh Lamba), a cop (Rahul Deshpande), and finally Jalal (Avinash Tiwary) — the Portugal-based gangster who is Ustara’s former employer and mortal enemy. Ustara initially declines. But when Afshan attempts to kill the lawyer herself and nearly dies, Ustara intervenes — and falls for her. The film then becomes a gangster love story set against Bombay’s criminal landscape, with Gulzar’s poetry woven through every frame.

The film is loosely based on Hussain Zaidi’s acclaimed non-fiction book Mafia Queens of Mumbai, which chronicles real women who operated within the city’s criminal underworld. Afshan’s character is reportedly inspired by Ashraf Khan — also known as Sapna Didi — a real figure from 1990s Mumbai. Vishal Bhardwaj, who also composed the music and wrote the screenplay, set himself the challenge of adapting a true-crime non-fiction work into an operatic romance — a task the film achieves aesthetically, if not always narratively.

Filming took place primarily in Mumbai and Spain — the bullfighting sequences in Spain, which see Shahid’s character with six-pack abs attending an actual corrida, are among the film’s most visually arresting (and, depending on your tolerance, most baroque) moments. Cinematographer Ben Bernhard — making his Bollywood debut — brings a visual language influenced by European crime cinema, giving the 1990s Mumbai setting a saturated, almost mythic quality.


The Critics · What They Said

O’Romeo Review Roundup — Where Critics Agreed and Where They Split

Critical reception was mixed-to-middling, with near-universal agreement on two points: Shahid Kapoor is excellent, and the screenplay is the film’s undoing. The split was on whether those two facts cancel each other out or whether Bhardwaj’s visual poetry is sufficient reason to recommend a nearly three-hour experience.

News18
★★★★ / 5
Described O’Romeo as different from the current wave of gore-heavy action films, praising it for combining strong performance with technical brilliance despite arriving after films like Animal and Dhurandhar in the same space.
Times of India
★★★½ / 5
Called the film “worth watching” despite frequent pacing issues that demand patience — a qualified recommendation.
Koimoi
★★★½ / 5
Praised the Bhardwaj–Gulzar synergy and Shahid’s return to his “angsty best,” noting Triptii Dimri looks like a dream and the film works if you approach it without expecting Haider or Kaminey.
Indian Express
★★½ / 5
Summarised as “high on style and swag, low on substance” — a common verdict across the middle-range reviews.
India Today
★★½ / 5
Felt the film failed to recreate the Haider/Kaminey magic despite poetic frames and intense performances, pointing to uneven screenplay and underwhelming emotional payoff.
Moneycontrol
★★½ / 5
Called it “a grand building impressive from the outside but not what you expect inside” — Bhardwaj’s most commercial attempt that both succeeds and misfires.
The Hindu
Mixed
Noted that “Shahid Kapoor soars, Vishal Bhardwaj struggles in this meandering romantic action drama.”
Hollywood Reporter India
Mixed
Concluded the film “fails to make a dent in the Bombay gangster-epic landscape” — among the harsher assessments.

What begins with promise slowly loses grip, especially in the second half where the writing weakens and the emotional impact fades. It looks beautiful, it sounds good, but it doesn’t stay with you the way it should.— Anindita Mukhopadhyay, India TV (2.5/5)

The consensus, in plain terms: go for Shahid and for Bhardwaj’s visual world; manage expectations around the story. At nearly three hours, the commitment is significant — and whether that commitment is rewarded depends almost entirely on your tolerance for gorgeous style over narrative satisfaction.


The Controversy · BookMyShow Review Bomb

The BookMyShow Rating Ban — What Happened and Why It Matters

One of the more unusual chapters in O’Romeo’s release was not about the film itself but about the audience response platform. BookMyShow — India’s largest ticketing platform — disabled user ratings and reviews for O’Romeo following a court order specifically intended to curb organised review bombing and negative social media campaigns targeting the film.

⚠️ The BookMyShow Review Controversy What happened: Shortly after O’Romeo’s release, BookMyShow disabled its rating and review functionality for the film — a rare and notable step.

Why: A court order was obtained citing organised negative review campaigns — coordinated efforts to tank the film’s audience ratings below its actual reception.

The broader context: Review bombing — the coordinated flooding of a film’s ratings with low scores — has become an increasingly recognised problem in Indian cinema. Several recent releases have sought legal recourse against coordinated negative campaigns that don’t reflect genuine audience opinion.

The effect: Audience scores for O’Romeo are therefore not a fully reliable indicator of genuine reception. The IMDb score of 5.8 (as of late February 2026) reflects a polarised audience — some genuinely disappointed, some enthusiastic, and some portion voting negatively as part of a coordinated campaign.

This is not to suggest the film doesn’t have genuine detractors — many audience members are legitimately frustrated by the screenplay’s pacing problems and the second-half drop in quality. But the review bombing situation means any aggregated audience score should be taken with context.


The Verdict · Is It Worth Watching?

Should You Watch O’Romeo? Our Honest Assessment

Watch it if: You are a Shahid Kapoor loyalist who wants to see him at his most committed and physically commanding. You enjoy Vishal Bhardwaj’s distinctive visual world — operatic, poetic, often unsettling. You appreciate Gulzar’s lyrical work and Bhardwaj’s music even when the underlying structure doesn’t fully support them. You went into Haider expecting Kaminey and ended up loving both. You can accommodate a nearly three-hour runtime for a film that offers spectacle over story.

Skip it if: You need a tight, propulsive screenplay. You found Animal exhausting and have no appetite for more genre-adjacent violent excess. You’re hoping for a Bhardwaj film that matches Haider or Omkara at their narrative peaks. You’re bringing someone who isn’t comfortable with an A-certified film’s level of graphic content.

Wait for Amazon Prime Video if: You want to watch Shahid’s performance and Bhardwaj’s cinematography in comfort, with the ability to pause, rewind the best scenes, and step away during the stretches that drag. The film’s visual strengths hold up well on a quality home screen — this is one case where OTT genuinely works as a complementary format to a cinema experience that wasn’t fully satisfying theatrically.

Epic action scene from O'Romeo showing a dramatic fight sequence inside a grand courtyard O'Romeo box office collection

Have you seen O’Romeo? Do you think the screenplay deserved the cast it had — or was Shahid enough to carry it? Tell us in the comments — and follow us on Instagram where we track every Bollywood box office story in real time, including the Amazon Prime Video OTT premiere date the moment it’s announced.


Complete Cast & Crew — O’Romeo (2026)

Character Actor Role
Ustara Shahid Kapoor Hitman / protagonist; kills with a barber’s razor
Afshan Triptii Dimri Mysterious woman seeking revenge; inspired by real figure Sapna Didi
Ismail Khan Nana Patekar Intelligence Bureau officer; Ustara’s protector and employer
Jalal Avinash Tiwary Fugitive gangster based in Portugal; Ustara’s former employer and enemy
Rabia Tamannaah Bhatia Supporting role
Julie Disha Patani Supporting role
Dadi Farida Jalal Ustara’s grandmother
Mehboob (Special) Vikrant Massey Special appearance
Aruna Irani Special appearance
Chotu Hussain Dalal Comic supporting role
Director / Screenplay / Music Vishal Bhardwaj
Lyrics Gulzar
Cinematographer Ben Bernhard
Editor Praveen Prabhakar
Producer Sajid Nadiadwala (Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment)

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about O’Romeo box office, story, and OTT release — answered.

What is the total box office collection of O’Romeo?

As of March 1, 2026, O’Romeo has collected approximately ₹64 crore net in India (₹75.6 crore gross), ₹24 crore gross overseas, and around ₹99.6 crore worldwide gross. The film opened to ₹8.5 crore on Day 1, jumped to ₹12.65 crore on Valentine’s Day (Day 2), and finished its first week with ₹47.1 crore India net. Its second week saw a steep 69% drop to ₹14.45 crore. The film is still running in limited screens. Given the pedigree of the project — Vishal Bhardwaj directing, Sajid Nadiadwala producing — the commercial result is considered below expectation, placing the film in the “average” verdict bracket.

What is O’Romeo about?

O’Romeo is set in Mumbai in 1995 and follows Ustara (Shahid Kapoor), a hitman who kills with a barber’s razor and works for an Intelligence Bureau officer named Ismail Khan (Nana Patekar). When a mysterious woman, Afshan (Triptii Dimri), approaches Ustara to help her eliminate the people responsible for killing her husband — including the gangster Jalal (Avinash Tiwary) — Ustara falls for her, and the film becomes a violent, poetic love story set in Bombay’s underworld. The film is based on Hussain Zaidi’s non-fiction book Mafia Queens of Mumbai, with Afshan’s character reportedly inspired by real-life figure Ashraf Khan (Sapna Didi).

What did critics say about O’Romeo?

Critical reception was mixed, averaging around 2.5 to 3 out of 5 across major publications. The near-universal points of praise were Shahid Kapoor’s performance (widely called his best work in years) and Vishal Bhardwaj’s visual direction and music, with Gulzar’s lyrics highlighted by almost every reviewer. The near-universal criticism was the screenplay — specifically the second-half pacing, weak villain characterisation, and emotional payoff that doesn’t match the film’s visual ambition. News18 gave it 4/5; Times of India 3.5/5; Indian Express, India Today, Outlook, Moneycontrol, and Deccan Herald ranged from 1.5 to 2.5 out of 5.

Why did BookMyShow disable reviews for O’Romeo?

BookMyShow disabled its user rating and review feature for O’Romeo following a court order obtained by the film’s producers, citing organised review bombing — coordinated campaigns to flood the film’s audience ratings with negative scores below its actual reception. This is a recognised problem in Indian film releases, where competing interests or organised fan groups sometimes attempt to manipulate public perception through coordinated low-rating campaigns. The court order required the platform to temporarily suspend the ratings feature. Genuine audience opinion is therefore divided between those legitimately disappointed by the screenplay and those who found Shahid’s performance and Bhardwaj’s craft worth the ticket price.

Where can I watch O’Romeo online? When is the OTT release date?

O’Romeo’s post-theatrical digital streaming rights have been acquired by Amazon Prime Video. An OTT premiere date has not been officially announced as of early March 2026. Typically, major Bollywood releases arrive on their digital platform 6–8 weeks after theatrical release — which would put the Amazon Prime Video premiere sometime in late March to early April 2026. Check back on this page for the confirmed date as soon as it’s announced, or follow our Instagram for real-time updates.

Is O’Romeo connected to any franchise or sequel?

No. O’Romeo is a standalone film with no connection to any franchise. It is Vishal Bhardwaj and Shahid Kapoor’s third collaboration, following Kaminey (2009) and Haider (2014), but each of those films exists in its own universe. No sequel has been announced. Given the mixed box office performance relative to expectations, a sequel seems unlikely — though Bhardwaj and Shahid’s creative partnership remains one of the most creatively productive in Hindi cinema, and a future collaboration is always possible.

What is O’Romeo’s CBFC certificate and age rating?

O’Romeo received an A (Adults Only) certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), meaning it is restricted to audiences 18 and above. The A certificate was given for graphic violence, strong language, and mature content. This is relevant for families considering watching the film — children cannot be admitted to O’Romeo screenings under the CBFC’s certification rules. The rating is consistent with the film’s 1990s Bombay underworld setting and Vishal Bhardwaj’s typically unflinching approach to violence in his gangster narratives.

How does O’Romeo compare to Shahid Kapoor’s previous films at the box office?

Among Shahid Kapoor’s recent releases, O’Romeo sits below Kabir Singh (2019, ₹278 crore India net — his all-time highest), Haider (2014, ₹41 crore, considered a hit given its budget), and Deva (2025, which had a stronger opening day of ₹8.5+ crore from a lower base). It compares closely to Jersey (2022, ₹18.5 crore India net — commercial disappointment) and Padmaavat (2018, where Shahid was in a supporting role). At ₹64 crore India net, O’Romeo is Shahid’s second-largest commercial result in the post-COVID era — better than Jersey or Farzi (OTT), but a significant underperformance relative to the Bhardwaj-collaboration expectations that Haider and Kaminey set.