Waltair Veerayya continues to attract audience to theatres, Veera Simha Reddy’s pace slows down as it crawls towards Rs 100 crore mark

Balakrishna’s Veera Simha Reddy opened to great numbers at the box office on January 12. On the other hand, Chiranjeevi’s Waltair Veerayya, which was released a day after Veera Simha, trailed just slightly behind. However, since then, Chiranjeevi’s film has effortlessly increased its lead over Balakrishna’s film.

However, the film did receive a mixed reaction from critics. Manoj R Kumar, in his review for Indianexpress.com, wrote, “Waltair Veerayya is presented to us as a man with superhuman capabilities. He’s not human. He’s god-like. The filmmakers don’t want the audience to respond to the character Waltair Veerayya, but they want us to venerate before the star playing Waltair Veerayya. And that kind of presentation causes a disconnection. When you present a hero, who can manipulate the forces of nature, you must also present a villain who can match his powers. Not Michael Caesar (Prakash Raj) and Solomon. These criminals pose no serious physical threat to a man who is called ‘the father of the Bay of Bengal’. And there is no emotional danger in the narrative for us to worry about the soul of Veerayya. It’s all just surface-level without any depth.”