Despite the hype created by the film prior to its release , it was not expected to perform very well on two accounts . Aamir Khan 's comment in November 2015 during the ongoing intolerance debate in India had sparked outrage and backlash from certain sections of people . Despite his clarification that the statement made was taken out of context and publicized , the criticism , primarily on social media , continued to the extent that prior to the film 's release , campaigns calling for boycotting the film began , on ground that Khan was " anti-national " . Secondly , after the government of India demonetised India 's banknotes in November 2016 , film businesses drastically fell owing to the fact that tickets were paid for mostly in cash , more so in the 8,500 single screen theatres of a total of 12,000 , which accounted for 45 per cent of the total box-office revenue in India . Following the exercise , it was reported that business fell by 60 per cent and that 700 theatres even shut , including a few that deciding not to renew their licenses , converted into wedding halls . The earnings of films '' Dear Zindagi '' , '' Kahaani 2 : Durga Rani Singh '' and '' Befikre '' that were released around this time were significantly affected , and their corresponding producers had handed out limited prints to single-screen theatres , to keep losses at a minimum
demonetised India 's banknotes
2016 Indian banknote demonetisation
Dangal (film)