Noor, Maatr day one box office collection: Sonakshi's film has slow start, Raveena's performs poorly

Two films centered on female characters, Sonakshi Sinha's Noor and Raveena Tandon's Maatr, released on 21 April, and both films have failed to perform well on their opening days.

Noor had a lukewarm response, with 10% occupancy in the morning shows on Friday. It fared worse than Vidya Balan's Begum Jaan, which released last week.

Critics have given it two to three-star ratings, saying that it is superficial in bits and fails to capture the realities of newsrooms. However, Sonakshi was praised for her acting, and many reviewers say that the film is better than her 2016 film Akira.

Maatr had zero occupancy in the morning shows. It received one-and-a-half to two-star ratings, and reviewers have critiqued it for having an overly simple and convenient plot.

Noor tells the story of a "joker-journalist" Noor, played by Sonakshi, who wants to pursue serious journalism instead of doing frivolous stories. It also stars Shibani Dandekar, Kanan Gill and Purab Kohli.

It is directed by Sunhil Sippy, and is based on the book Karachi, You're Killing Me! by Pakistani author Saba Imtiaz.

Maatr deals with the subjects of rape and violence through the story of a mother who seeks revenge for the crimes committed against her daughter. Apart from Raveena Tandon, the film stars Alisha Khan, Madhur Mittal, Divya Jagdale, Anurag Arora, Rushad Rana, Saleem Khan and Shalee Goel.