After opening at just Rs 10 lakh in the domestic market and struggling at the box office for a fortnight with no takers, director Vishal Chaturvedi’s Hanuman Ansh, based on the life of Neem Karoli Baba, made a massive comeback and has since been minting crores even on weekdays.

With a total India nett collection of Rs 222.88 crore and a global gross of Rs 277.80 crore, according to industry tracker Sacnilk, Hanuman Ansh has emerged as the third-highest-grossing Indian film of 2026, trailing behind Dhurandhar: The Revenge (Rs 1,813.39 crore) and Border 2 (Rs 450.19 crore). The film is also one of the most profitable films in the last one decade, having been made on a budget of less than Rs 2 crore. This puts the profitability at almost 140x.

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While the movie continues its triumphant run, an interview with doctor-turned-filmmaker Vishal Chaturvedi has caught netizens’ attention, in which he spoke at length about the hardships he faced while making Hanuman Ansh. He also shared that a prominent OTT platform rejected the movie’s concept, which “triggered” him.

How COVID inspired Hanuman Ansh

“It took 14 years after leaving the medical profession for me to make Hanuman Ansh,” he revealed during a conversation with The Indian Thing. “I wanted to make my first film in the second or third year after leaving the medical profession, but couldn’t. It’s not like anyone who steps into the industry will become a director. I began working on the film during the COVID era.”

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He continued, “A lot of people close to me, including my best friend’s mother, my first cousin, and my mentor, died during that period in a span of five to six days. It affected me mentally, as I couldn’t help anyone despite being a doctor. During the second wave of COVID, I began feeling an urge to do something positive. So, I started a group called Hanuman Chalisa on Clubhouse. The intent was simple: share your woes, or if you want to pray for your family, you can by reciting Hanuman Chalisa. People from different parts of the world joined it eventually.”

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Journey with Neem Karoli Baba’s story

Amid all this, Vishal pursued his cinematic dream as well. However, things weren’t going smoothly. “A big film of mine had been announced, but it wasn’t going on floors. In between, I signed two or three more things. There was a Hotstar show as well, which was launched, but then it was called off. These were becoming too taxing,” he shared.

“I was always fascinated by Hanuman ji as a character. The idea came to my mind about 20 years ago. I had been travelling with it since then, narrating Neem Karoli Baba’s story to everyone. Once I began telling them I was going to make a film on him, their main question was, ‘Who would play Baba?'” he added.

‘It triggered me’: Why top OTT platform rejected Neem Karoli Baba’s story

However, materialising the movie was far from easy for him, as it was rejected by a major OTT platform too. “Once, I approached the biggest OTT platform in the world to pitch concepts. As they liked my first two, they asked if I had Indian concepts with international relevance. Excited, I told them about Neem Karoli Baba. I said, ‘It is the story from India for the world,’ because tech giants Apple, Meta and Google had some stories related to him.”

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“Steve Jobs visited India 13 days after Baba’s death, stayed at his ashram, and probably drew inspiration for Apple from there, rooted in minimalism. Then, Steve Jobs asked Mark Zuckerberg to visit Baba’s ashram, and he eventually did. I told the two female executives of the OTT platform all this. One of them was from Uttarakhand and was slightly interested in what I was saying, but she was junior to the other. As soon as I finished pitching, the senior bluntly said, ‘We are not looking for such kinds of concepts.’ Their reaction triggered me,” he added.

On Monday, the devotional drama recorded an India nett collection of Rs 8.25 crore across 9,198 shows, taking its total domestic earnings to Rs 222.88 crore.