On July 31, a film titled Hanuman Ansh was released in theatres. In its first two weeks, the film earned Rs 1.5 crore. However, it witnessed a massive jump in its third week, earning Rs 10.5 crore, with several people praising the film on social media. According to reports, the film was made on a budget of just Rs 1.8 crore to Rs 2 crore. It currently stands at Rs 12 crore, translating into a profit of over 500% on its reported production budget.

According to industry tracker Sacnilk, Hanuman Ansh opened at Rs 10 lakh and went on to collect Rs 1.08 crore in its first week. In its second week, the film earned just Rs 40 lakh before witnessing a dramatic jump in collections in its third week.

Producer took Premanand Ji Maharaj’s advise

But did you know that before the film’s release, the producers approached Premanand Ji Maharaj, who advised them to ensure that the protagonist remained extremely careful about his lifestyle and followed a vegetarian diet?

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Speaking to Aaj Tak, the film’s director and writer Vishal Chaturvedi said, “One of our producers went to Premanand Maharaj Ji after we shot the film and asked for his suggestion before releasing the film. He said, make sure your protagonist is a vegetarian. He asked the main lead to be very careful about these things.”

Strict rules were followed on sets

Apart from this, the makers followed several rules on set. When they encountered problems, the director said, reciting the Hanuman Chalisa became their way of dealing with them.

“There were specific rules that had to be maintained on set. Nobody can abuse on set. Nobody can fight or argue on set. Only vegetarian food will be allowed on set. No one associated with the film will drink any alcohol. Every day, we started our shoot by chanting Hanuman Chalisa and ended the day with the same,” the director said.

Actor Shobhinaw Satyaa, who played the role of Neem Karoli Baba, recalled, “Every time we had a problem on set, we would recite Hanuman Chalisa.”

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Vishal explained, “While the schedule would be at 7 am, a lot of times, the camera wouldn’t roll until 10 am due to some or the other problem. So, while waiting for it, I would suggest everyone recite Hanuman Chalisa, thinking doing something is better than nothing. And by the time we ended the Chalisa, we would find some or the other solution to the problem we were facing.”

‘We had no money for film campaign’

Vishal also recalled how the makers had virtually no money for the film’s promotional campaign, but chose to follow the path of service instead.

“We didn’t have money when we started the campaign for this film. At the same time, we were very clear that except for spreading Neem Karoli Baba’s message to the world, we don’t have to do any other kind of campaign at all,” he said.

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He added, “We did bhandaras. We did eight such bhandaras, which became our campaign and spread the word about our film. And at such a tough time, CBFC, without any issue, gave us a U certificate.”

Produced by Ragini S, Namrata G Singh, Anupriya A Nagar and Vishal Chaturvedi, Hanuman Ansh has emerged as the latest small-budget film to find an audience through the theme of spirituality, following Laalo and Deool Band 2, which also found success with spiritually driven narratives in the past six months.