Chiranjeevi-led Waltair Veerayya, which is billed as a commercial entertainer, has received a good response from the audience and it is evident from the film's opening day box office collection. The KS Ravindra directorial, which was supposed to face competition from Nandamuri Balakrishna's Veera Simha Reddy, has earned Rs 29 crore on Friday. The industry tracker Sacnilk reported that the film earned Rs 29 crore (all languages included) on Friday. Its opening collection was better than Chirnajeevi's 2022 release GodFather which earned Rs 12.97 crore on day one. Film trade analyst Ramesh Bala had earlier shared on social media that the film is off to a great start. He wrote on Twitter, "MEGA MASS BLOCKBUSTER #WaltairVeerayya off to a thundering response, all night shows SOLD OUT 💥 SOLID DAY 1 numbers loading 🔥." MEGA MASS BLOCKBUSTER #WaltairVeerayya off to a thundering response, all night shows SOLD OUT 💥 SOLID DAY 1 numbers loading 🔥 Book your tickets! - MEGASTAR @KChiruTweets @RaviTeja_offl @dirbobby @shrutihaasan @ThisIsDSP @MythriOfficial @SonyMusicSouth pic.twitter.com/4Xk8Ry13UJ — Ramesh Bala (@rameshlaus) January 13, 2023 Directed by KS Ravindra, Waltair Veerayya has music by Devi Sri Prasad, the film also stars Shruti Haasan and Catherine Tresa. On the day of its release, the film had fans of Chiranjeevi queuing outside the cinema halls. The release of Waltair Veeraya has affected the business of Nandamuri Balakrishna's Veera Simha Reddy which had a thunderous opening of Rs 33.6 crore at the ticket counters on Thursday. The number fell drastically to Rs 8.6 crore on Friday. Waltair Veerayya has opened to a mixed-to-negative response from film critics. Indianexpress.com's Manoj Kumar R, in his review of the film, wrote, "Director-writer K. S. Ravindra aka Bobby creates quite a hype for Waltair Veerayya in the opening minutes and fumbles to maintain the same tempo for the remainder of the narrative. The film falls victim to its own hype. To call the plot contrivances in Waltair Veerayya shocking is an understatement. Bobby takes the audience for granted as he assumes that they would pay little attention to the disingenuous cause-and-effect mechanism in the narrative as long as the film stays focused on the antics of Waltair Veerayya."
