Rajinikanth’s Kabali has made Rs480 million (Dh21.8 million) on its opening day at the Indian box office, beating Salman Khan’s drama Sultan to emerge as the highest grossing Indian film on opening day, according to estimates by trade experts.
Sultan made Rs365 million on its opening day.
Kabali, an action film directed Pa Ranjith, features 65-year-old Rajinikanth as a gangster who fights for equal pay for Tamils in Malaysia.
It released in India on Friday in Tamil, and was also dubbed in Hindi and Telugu. In the UAE, it released on Thursday evening in Tamil. There were 151,000 tickets sold for Thursday and Friday showings across the UAE, a local distributor told tabloid!.
Kabali surpassed the previous opening record in Tamil Nadu held by Ajith Kumar’s Vedalam, which collected around Rs150 million, said a trade analyst.
“In Tamil Nadu, Kabali collected a whopping Rs21.5 crore [Rs215 million] from its first day. Since the film was exempted from entertainment tax, it managed to register such a big opening,” trade analyst Trinath said.
In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the Telugu version also got a good opening.
“The start has been phenomenal with Rs13.5 crore. It has to be seen whether the film can sustain the momentum through the first week. It was due to the unprecedented advance bookings and Rajinikanth factor, the film managed to register good opening,” Trinath said.
Rajesh Thadani, a Mumbai-based distributor, said: “The film has made an outstanding first day collection of around Rs48 crore. But since the review is not that great, there will be a drop in its collection from Monday.”
The film reportedly made Rs2 billion from advance ticket sales.
Kabali has collected $2 million (Dh7.3 million) from the US and Canada — where it released in over 400 screens — according to distribution company CineGalaxy Inc.
“It is easily the best opening for an Indian film from premiere shows in North America. The film has collected $2 million from the premiere shows and it includes both the Tamil and Telugu version of Kabali,” Sanjay Dusari, co-Founder of CineGalaxy Inc, said.
Mumbai-based trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted: “If this is not EARTH-SHATTERING, what is? Kabali (Tamil+Telugu) opening in international markets - Malaysia: No 1 (Thursday+Friday), US-Canada: No 3 (Thursday pre), UK: No 10 (Thursday+Friday) @Rentrak [sic].”
The figures shared by Adarsh were credited to Rentrak, a US-based firm that tracks at least 100,000 screens across 36 countries.
The Indian box office figures are largely based on estimations from trade analysts for the lack of a centralised system or authentic regional systems.
Irrfan Khan film Madaari grossed Rs44.5 million worldwide on its opening day, according to its makers.
The film made Rs32.5 million in India and Rs12 million overseas, said a statement.
The thriller, which sees Khan and director Nishikant Kamat team up again after the award-winning Mumbai Meri Jaan, has been lauded by the film fraternity.
Madaari also stars Jimmy Sheirgill, Vishesh Bansal, Tushar Dalvi, Nitish Pandey and Ayesha Raza.
