Despite the hype created by the film prior to its release, it was not expected to perform very well on two accounts. 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 publicised, 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 grounds 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 licences, converted into wedding halls. The earnings of films "Dear Zindagi", "" 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.