MUMBAI • Bollywood superstars Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan have been sunk by movie critics and poor word of mouth.

While their big-budget movie Thugs Of Hindostan made big waves at the box office on the opening day last week, it has since lost the wind in its sails.

The US$42 million (S$58 million) film, which opened with a record-breaking splash of 507.5 million rupees (S$9.7 million), collected only 172.5 million rupees on Sunday, in its Hindi version.

That came even though it was the Diwali holiday weekend.

The movie is also shown in Tamil and Telegu.

The Hindustan Times, whose reviewer had described the film as "dull and unoriginal", cited analyst Taran Adarsh as saying that Thugs "has failed to live up to the mammoth expectations".

"It did set new benchmarks on Day 1, but the negative word of mouth hit biz hard on subsequent days."

According to various media reports, the situation has become worse, with morning shows cancelled on Monday because of empty theatres in some parts of the country.

But there is hope that the movie can navigate calmer waters overseas.

In China, where Thugs is rumoured to open next month, Khan is wildly popular, with his previous films, such as wrestling flick Dangal (2016), scoring a knockout at the box office.