Malayalam actor Nivin Pauly’s latest film, Baby Girl, released in theatres on Friday, 23 January 2026, featuring a strong cast comprising Lijomol Jose, Sangeeth Prathap, and Abhimanyu Thilakan. However, despite the talented cast, the film failed to impress critics as well as masses. On its first two days of release, the Box Office collections remained below 1.5 crore.
Coming off the back of his recent success with Sarvam Maya, this new thriller directed by Arun Varma was expected to shine in the cinemas but has received a lukewarm response from both critics and the general public.
Many regular cinemagoers have noted that while the story had potential, the execution feels a bit dated, which has resulted in much lower ticket sales than the producers had hoped for.
A look at the opening Box Office collections
The financial performance of Baby Girl over its first two days has been quite low. On its opening Friday, the film earned approximately Rs 75 lakh net in India. This was a surprising result for a Nivin Pauly starrer, as most industry experts expected it to easily cross the Rs 1 crore mark on day one. Unfortunately, the momentum did not pick up on Saturday either, with the film earning around Rs 72 lakh.
This brings the total two-day net collection to roughly Rs 1.47 crore. To put that in perspective, another recent movie, Chatha Pacha, made over Rs 7 crore on its first day alone. With the worldwide gross sitting at about Rs 1.70 crore, Baby Girl is really struggling to make back what it cost to produce. Unless there’s a big turnaround in ticket sales this Sunday, the film is likely to be considered a box office failure.
Theatre occupancy on Day 2
People didn’t seem very interested in the film on its first day, which showed in the low turnout at theatres in Kerala and other areas. On average, only about 19.4% of seats were filled. Most people skipped the earlier screenings, with morning and afternoon shows seeing only 14% and 11% occupancy. There was a bit more activity during the night shows, which went up to 31%, but that wasn’t enough to make up for the quiet start earlier in the day.
By Saturday, the occupancy figures remained largely the same, showing that word-of-mouth has not been particularly strong. Critics have pointed out that the script by Bobby-Sanjay feels too similar to their older work, like Traffic, and that Nivin Pauly’s character does not have enough to do in the story. While Lijomol Jose’s performance has been praised, many viewers feel the film is too predictable for a modern thriller. With occupancy remaining low even in major cities like Kochi and Trivandrum, the film is now relying heavily on a potential Sunday turnaround.