Day 1 of Vettaiyan box collection: The confluence of two famous stars, Rajinikanth and Amitabh Bachchancaused fireworks at the box office. Tamil action drama Vettaiyan had a strong start to its journey, delivering the second best opening for a Tamil film this year, after Vijay’s The Greatest of All Time (GOAT).
According to industry watcher Sacnilk, Vettaiyan made Rs 30 cr all-India nett on Thursday. The film did very well in Tamil Nadu, one which contributed Rs 26 cr at the box office, followed by Telugu collections, which were a little over Rs 3 cr. The Hindi version of the film was not released in national chains due to the long-running OTT window tussle. This could prove disastrous for the box office of the film, as Amitabh Bachchan remains very attractive.
Vettaiyan’s collections are meager compared to Rajinikanth’s last on-screen outing, Jailer, which broke records last year. Jail had opened at Rs 48 cr, and the Tamil collections stood at Rs 37 cr- more than India’s Vettaiyan net haul. Jele, of course, was released amid great hype and helped by Nelson. Vettaiyan has been described as a very focused commercial director by director TJ Gnanavel, who once helmed the popular Jai Bhim.
Vettaiyan’s collections reflect the power of Rajinikanth, who, at the age of 73, can still open films on a higher scale than many other stars. With a haul of around Rs 30 in one day, Vettaiyan is behind Vijay’s GOAT, which started well at Rs 44 cr, with Tamil collections of just over Rs 39 cr.
The film will now hope to record continued collections on Friday, before the expected jump on Saturday and Sunday, but this will depend entirely on word of mouth. If the reception is good, the film may also do well during the Dussehra holidays. GOAT had ended its run with around Rs 250 crore domestically, while Jail earned around Rs 100 crore more. The next few days will decide if Vettaiyan is able to match the performance of Rajinikanth’s biggest hits.