Bigil on rampage, rakes in Rs 100 cr at box office in three days

According to Pillai, Bigil (Tamil) becomes the highest-grossing Indian film, surpassing Akshay Kumar’s Housefull 4 (Hindi). Interestingly, he adds, Bigil had overtaken Petta collections in Australia. “I am simply talking about the opening figures. We need to wait and watch to tell if Bigil is a hit,” he smiles. Pillai insists despite mixed reviews, Bigil is doing excellent business. “Vijay does only mass movies and lots of elements in Bigil certainly have appealed to the audience. Ten years ago, you wouldn’t have seen Vijay shouldering such a film, where he lets women shine above heroism,” he says.

Pillai says both Vijay and Ajith Kumar pick scripts carefully, catering to the present market conditions. “In the past few years, there has been a significant change in the way both the actors sign their respective films. Vijay, in particular, displays a mature and restrained acting these days, which wasn’t the case before. For example, in Bigil, in lots of places, he hasn’t played to the gallery,” points out Pillai.

Bigil occupies the third position after 2.0 and Sarkar in the highest opening day collection list at the Chennai box office. Pillai notes, “The opening of Sarkar was good, but not to the extent of Bigil. The film is doing exceptionally well in Mumbai and Delhi multiplexes, pushing Housefull 4.”

Bigil isn’t the biggest hit of Vijay, declares Pillai. “Thuppakki did well in terms of numbers. But until next Sunday, Bigil is safe, and will continue to have an upper hand,” he adds.

Entertainment tracker LM Kaushik says Bigil is a part of the top 5 Tamil Nadu grossers of 2019 already. “It’s too early to say if Bigil is a hit, but the film has garnered a spectacular opening. We can’t expect a Nerkonda Paarvai from Vijay, but the makers of Bigil delivered what they had promised,” he adds.

Kaushik says Bigil grossed Rs 5.26 crore in Chennai in three days. “The last five Diwali releases of Vijay have been worldwide grossers—be it Thuppakki (2012), Kaththi (2014) Mersal (2017), Sarkar (2018) or Bigil (2019). Undoubtedly, after Rajinikanth, Thalapathy is the big deal. Previously, Vijay didn’t have a market in the Telugu-speaking states, which has changed. Bigil is successful even in Kerala,” he elaborates.

According to trade sources, the Telugu version, Whistle, has garnered Rs 10.8 crore so far.

However, Kaushik points out Bigil didn’t touch the opening mark of Sarkar. “On day one, the AR Murugadoss film grossed over Rs 32 crore, where as Bigil’s opening collection was Rs 25.5 crore. Unlike Sarkar, Bigil didn’t release on the festival day,” he smiles.

Kaushik cites why Bigil appeals to the audience more than Sarkar. “The latter was a serious political film and didn’t have energetic foot-tapping songs. Bigil album was a huge hit, which has played to its advantage, on the theatrical release. It is already in the league of Viswasam, Petta, Baahubali 2 and 2.0, which had a sustaining run at the box office,” he notes.

As for Kaithi, Kaushik says, it’s already a hit in Kerala, besides Tamil Nadu. “Kaithi isn’t a huge budget film. I am sure the makers would have received much more than what they had invested. The Total Tamil Nadu gross was close to Rs 11 crore,” he informs.

Kaithi, which released in less number of screens, is likely to add more screens in the coming weeks. Ruban Mathivanan, managing director of GK Cinemas, concurs. “There’s no major Tamil release next Friday. So, we can expect people watching Bigil. Adhithya Varma and a couple of other films have been scheduled to release only by November 8. Till then, it’s safe for Bigil. Additionally, there are no good Bollywood releases, that has helped Bigil fare better worldwide,” he says.

Ruban adds business-wise, Bigil has definitely scored better than Sarkar. “The opening of Sarkar was quite good. But once the reviews were in, the numbers dropped. Surprisingly, Bigil is sustaining, despite not-so-favourable reviews,” he tells indianexpress.com. “There were special morning shows everywhere post government’s nod on the release day and that has helped immensely in the box office numbers. Till next Sunday, I am expecting a full crowd and the booking trend looks favourable,” he smiles.

Ruban quickly acknowledges Kaithi is doing a brilliant business simultaneously. “Another aspect that should be taken into consideration while assessing Bigil’s box office collection is that it wasn’t a solo release and faces considerable competition from Karthi-starrer, which has turned out to be the biggest hit of Karthi’s career. While Bigil has a 70% occupancy in theatres, Kaithi has an impressive 30% share,” he says.