Kabali box office collections on first day hits Rs 35+ cr, Rajinikanth starrer made Rs 250 cr, says S Thanu

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Amid reports of Kabali box office collections on first day hitting the Rs 250 crore mark (as per producer S Thanu), analysts have said that the likely scenario for a prediction of the Rajinikanth movie is Rs 100 cr – that too after 3 days (opening weekend). The hype generated around Kabali first day collection figures has them performing super-natural feats that would do Thalaivar proud!

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From all indications, Kabali collection on opening day were quite high at Rs 35+ cr, but nowhere near the Rs 40 crore mark, which some reports have indicated quoting officials. The crowds have been huge at cinemas tussling with each other to be the first to watch the first day first show (FDFS). In comparison, Salman Khan's Sultan opening day collections were at Rs 36.54 cr and increased the next day on Eid to Rs 37.32 cr. The figures are exclusively for India for both movies. As far as day 2 is concerned, Kabali collection first day apart box office collections are predicted to rise substantially over the previous day's figures since it is a holiday (Saturday) and therefore is likely to head for the Rs 40 crore mark – that is, if we take into account the hype created around the movie.

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The problem for Rajinikanth as far as Kabali collections are concerned is that most northern India movie critics have panned the movie and except for die hard fans and the southern community, the rest of the country's movie-going public is not going to be impressed enough to head for cinemas. The movie released in about 1,000 theatres in north India, for which Fox Studio has the distribution rights.

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Another hurdle that Kabali faces is the price of tickets – it is quite low, some due to government orders in Tamil Nadu and others because the public cannot afford high-priced tickets as they would be left high and dry outside cinemas. This is the mass base that drives the Rajinikanth mania. Explaining the reality on the ground, film producer G Dhananjayan, said though the maximum price of a ticket in Tamil Nadu was fixed at Rs 120, the first day shows would have gone for an average of Rs 200 a ticket. However, at many multiplexes, tickets may well have gone in excess of Rs 400 and Rs 800.

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The opening day for Kabali started off with a bang, with people getting ready as early as 1 a.m. to to go to the temple and then head for the early morning shows, some of which reportedly started as early as 3 am as theatre owners sought to milk the film as much as possible in the 24 hour period. Also, among the rituals they performed was to break coconuts and pour thousands of litres of milk over the giant Rajinikanth cut-outs spread across cities and in theatres.

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And packed houses was not the sole preserve of southern cinemas, the same could be seen in Mumbai too. In fact, where a sizeable population of South Indians was present, the Rajinikanth mania was visible. Post-shows, joyful fans were seen shouting their favourite dialogue from Kabali with the most frequent ones being , "Tell them I have arrived. Tell them I am back. It’s Kabali." (Naan vanthutennu sollu… Thirumbi vanthutaennu sollu… Kabali da).