Hanuman Ash is tax free in Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand government has declared the devotional sleeper blockbuster Hanuman Ansh, based on the life and teachings of Baba Neem Karoli Maharaj, tax-free in the state after Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami watched it on Friday in Dehradun with his wife Geeta Dhami, cabinet colleagues Ganesh Joshi and Pradeep Batra and several MLAs and lauded it tremendously. Posting on X, Dhami said the film gave an opportunity to understand Baba Neem Karoli Maharaj’s penance, sacrifice, service and unwavering faith in Lord Hanuman and that his entire life was dedicated to service of humanity, spiritual practice and welfare of society, adding that devotion is not merely practice but also the path of service, surrender and human welfare and that inspirational films like this are an important medium to pass spiritual heritage to the new generation. The film, written and directed by Vishal Chaturvedi and starring Shobhinaw Satyaa in the lead as Neem Karoli Baba along with Vihaan Shedge as the younger Maharaj Ji, Chandan K Anand as Dr Ram Nandan Bhosle, Purnima Tiwari, Anil Rastogi, Gulshan Pandey and Bhagvandas Patel in key roles, follows young Lakshminarayan who loses his mother and embarks on a spiritual journey across North India in search of God, questioning life, death and suffering, and eventually transforms into the revered saint Neem Karoli Baba known as ansh of Lord Hanuman.

What makes this a miracle of Lord Hanuman and Baba Neem Karoli, as makers describe it, is its box office journey. Made on a meagre budget of Rs 1.75 to 1.8 crore, at stretch Rs 2 crore, the film was released on 7 August 2026 in just 250 theatres without any big star or large promotional campaign and opened with merely Rs 10 lakh and 20-odd audience in halls. Its first week collected Rs 1.08 crore and second week only Rs 40 lakh, taking the 14-day total to Rs 1.48 crore and was declared a flop. Then word of mouth changed everything. The third week brought Rs 10.4 crore, with Day 17 giving Rs 2.2 crore and Day 19 Rs 2.35 crore, and the fourth week exploded with Rs 6.25 crore on Friday, Rs 9.25 crore on Saturday and Rs 12.75 crore on Sunday, more than Yash’s big film Toxic which earned Rs 8.20 crore on same day. On Day 26 the film collected Rs 8.50 crore net across 7,008 shows, taking its India net to Rs 54.13 crore and gross to Rs 63.82 crore. As per latest trade tracking, on Day 29 it added Rs 10 crore net, taking India gross to Rs 97.77 crore and net to Rs 82.88 crore, and with overseas release handled by Hombale Films from 11 September the makers claim pan-India gross has now crossed Rs 100 crore, turning the team into millionaires in a month on a return of over 5000 percent. Initially popular through mouth publicity in Uttarakhand and North India, it picked up through social media after crossing Rs 40 crore, then Rs 70 crore and now Rs 100 crore. AICWA has now written to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to make it tax-free there too, noting Kainchi Dham has become a major centre of faith for devotees worldwide including Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Julia Roberts.

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