Kangana Ranaut's 'Thalaivii' low on 1st weekend at box office; Tamil version saving grace

It seems filmmakers will have to wait to see audiences return to cinema like the pre-COVID-19 era. As the film industry hopes for improvement in collections while theatres re-open in parts of the country, the new Bollywood movies have not been able to live up to the expectations. After Bell Bottom, it was Kangana Ranaut-starrer Thalaivii that went for a theatrical release before an Over-the-Top venture, and the result over the weekend has been unimpressive. 

Thalaivii managed to earn close to Rs. 5 crore over the course of its three-day run at the box office. The Hindi version of the biopic of late actor-turned-Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, performed even lower, though the Tamil version came to their rescue up to some extent.

Thalaivii weekend box office collections out

Kangana's Thalaivii earned Rs 4.75 crore across India over the weekend, as per a report on Box Office India.  The collections comprised of about Rs. 1 crore coming from the Hindi version, growing from Rs. 25 lakh on Friday, Rs. 30 lakh on Saturday to Rs. 45 lakh on Sunday.

The Tamil version somewhat saved the day for the makers as it earned Rs. 3.25 crore. Out of this, Rs. 2.75 crore was contributed by Tamil Nadu alone, where Jayalalithaa enjoyed an iconic status, while Rs. 50 lakh came in from other parts of the country, Bengaluru being one of the main areas to have added to the tally. 

Nizam/Andhra region was the other area that helped add Rs. 50 lakh to the total. As compared to the other films that were released during the pandemic, including Bell Bottom that had earned Rs. 12.75 crore and Roohi that had earned Rs 12.58 crore, Thalaivii stands nowhere near the figure.

Factors like Maharashtra and Kerala not opening the theatres yet due to the COVID-19 restrictions, and the refusal of some multiplexes to screen the Hindi version over a short window between the theatrical and Over-the-Top release could have led to lower box office collections of the movie. 

The saving grace for the makers, however, was that the multi-lingual movie has reportedly fetched a good sum for its OTT release, which is set to happen in a month's time.