In the wake of mixed reviews on its release day, the makers of 'Liger' announced on Friday that the movie has grossed Rs 33.12 crore worldwide on Day One in all the languages.
That may be bigger than the opening-day collection of 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2', Bollywood's biggest mainstream hit this year, which gained traction as the days went by. Trade news sites, however, are being cautious with their figures. According to the trade reports that worldwide, 'Liger' has grossed Rs 28.1 crore, including Rs 3.63 crore from America, and of this, the all-India share is Rs 19 crore.
That, again, is more than what 'Samrat Prithviraj', 'Shamshera', 'Raksha Bandhan' and 'Laal Singh Chaddha' each made on their first day, but it is clear from all available figures that 'Liger' has done well only in the two Telugu-speaking states.
And still, it is the seventh-highest opener for a Telugu film (single-language or dubbed) this year, behind 'RRR', 'KGF 2', Mahesh Babu's 'SVP', 'Radhe Shyam', 'Acharya' and 'F3'. It is apparent that the formula of putting a South Indian star in a Bollywood movie and hoping that it would end the present box-office drought, clearly hasn't worked.
Puri Jagannadh's highly anticipated movie with Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday in the lead roles was released worldwide on Thursday to very high expectations. The movie, which is seen as the pan-India launch vehicle for Deverakonda, had waded into a boycott controversy. A weak storyline didn't help either, despite a creditable performance by Deverakonda, trade analysts said.
Made on a budget believed to be around Rs 100 crore, 'Liger' seems to staring at the possibility of not being able to recover the investment. The movie's makers, though, are confident because of the reception in the two Telugu-speaking states.
With no competition this weekend, and the Ganesh Chaturthi holiday (Wednesday) in the middle of the next, the 'Liger' team is confident that it will recover the movie's costs in the first two weeks. That is a prospect worth waiting and watching out for.
Ananya Panday's candid stills from 'Liger'
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