Why did Kattappa kill Baahubali?
The question that has been vexing millions of Indian cinemagoers for two years was answered on Friday in thousands of theatres across the country that screened Baahubali 2: The Conclusion.
The long-awaited sequel to the 2015 multilingual drama by director S S Rajamouli received a rousing reception with trade analysts predicting its day one collection at Rs700 million (Dh39.9 million) to Rs750 million nationwide.
“The advance booking is crazy; there are corporate bookings of 100-200 seats. There is a repeat value for this film. The opening day collections should be at Rs70 crore [Rs700 million] in all the languages. It’s all set to create history with the film earning Rs230-240 crore over the weekend,” a Mumbai-based exhibitor Akshay Rathi said.
Fans, however, had to miss the morning shows in some theatres in Tamil Nadu due to an alleged financial dispute between the producers and the distributors. The film hit the screens just after 11am.
The release of the film was preceded by a publicity blitz that blanketed TV screens, magazines and streets. The massive expectations created by the publicity climaxed on Friday when fans started queuing up outside theatres as early as 5am.
“I came at 5am. I got a ticket for the second show [night show]. I wanted a ticket for matinee or first show. But I am happy that I got a ticket,” Anusha, a college student in Hyderabad, said.
Such was the frenzy surrounding the film that fans skipped school and work to watch the first show on the first day of the movie release with many coughing up to Rs 1,500 to buy tickets from resellers.
Rajamouli, actress Anushka Shetty and music director MM Keeravani visited a screening of the movie in Hyderabad to gauge the response of the audience.
Fans of Prabhas, who plays the lead role of Baahubali, erected huge cutouts of the star to celebrate the release of the film. Outside cinemas, fans poured milk on the cutouts, copying religious rituals reserved for gods.
A fan of Prabhas in Hyderabad attended the screening dressed as him and reached the cinema on a horse with a camel in tow.
Online booking website BookMyShow said they sold more than a million advance tickets in just 24 hours, breaking the record set by Aamir Khan film Dangal.
In Delhi, major cinema chains such as PVR and Inox allocated most of its theatres for Baahubali 2.
“PVR has allocated close to 80 per cent of its total capacity to Baahubali 2 in India, as well as in Delhi. The film has taken a phenomenal start. The occupancy is expected to be 85 per cent for day one for entire PVR chain,” Kamal Gianchandani, CEO PVR Pictures, said.
The morning shows in most theatres in Delhi were booked out, said Joginder Mahajan, film distributor and treasurer of Motion Pictures Association in Delhi and UP.
He is also expecting the film to make approximately Rs 75 crore on day one.
The Telangana government has allowed five shows of the film to be screened following a request from the producers.
In Karnataka, fans reportedly paid up to Rs1,600 per ticket to watch the film. As much as 75 per cent of screens available in the state are showing the film.
In Bengaluru alone, 72 of the 94 single-screen theatres were screening it, trade experts said. In Mysuru, as many as 40 screens out of 45 are showing Baahubali 2.
The Kannada film fraternity is pushing for the implementation of a budgetary proposal to peg ticket prices at Rs200 in single-screen theatres and multiplexes.
In Kerala, producer-distributor Prem Menon of Global United Media, predicted the film would shatter box office records in the state.
“It has released in 310 screens [142 in Malayalam and the rest in Tamil] and we are still counting. Theatres across the state had scheduled close to 60 early morning shows today. We are expecting the film to gross Rs5 crore in Kerala, which will be a record,” he said.
Malayalam star Mammootty’s recent outing, The Great Father, holds the record for the highest opening with an approximate gross of Rs47 million.
In Mumbai, the ticket prices started as low as Rs200 and went up to Rs1,500.
Trade analyst Komal Nahta says the Hindi version itself is all set to create new benchmarks.
“The opening day looks like [Rs]40 crore plus for Hindi version and the weekend will be more than [Rs]100 crore. The film is destined to make history and it is going to break every single record — opening day, weekend, first week and so on,” he said.
Nahta says going by the positive word-of-mouth across the board, the film will challenge existing record holders from Bollywood such as Sultan, PK and Dangal.
The film is doing exceptionally well even in single-screen theatres in Mumbai.
“The audience is enjoying and loving the film. It’s going houseful and we have advance booking till Tuesday,” said Manoj Desai, executive director of Gaiety, Galaxy and Maratha Mandir cinema.
The first Baahubali film collected Rs6.5 billion at the worldwide box office. The two-part series, made at a budget of Rs4.5 billion, also stars Rana Daggubati, Tammaanah Bhatia, Ramya Krishnan and Sathyaraj.
