The rise in collections for Sudha Kongara's Parasakthi continue as audiences flock to theatres to catch the film during the extended Pongal holidays in the state, contributing to its box office momentum. The film has now collected over Rs 41 crore in its first week in theatres.
According to data from the industry tracker Sacnilk, the film, starring Sivakarthikeyan and Ravi Mohan in the lead roles, collected Rs 12.5 crore and Rs 10.1 crore on the first two days, after which it witnessed a drastic dip in collections before seeing a rise once again during the Pongal holidays. On January 15 alone, which marked the festival in the state, the film saw a revenue of over Rs 5.5 crore, boosting Parasakthi's collections to Rs 36.25 crore.
The film has however been receiving mixed reviews from critics and audience. Parasakthi tells the story of a youngster who forms support for a revolution against Hindi imposition in Tamil Nadu. It has also been in the centre of many controversies since its release including the increase in negativity against the film, the team facing backlash for attending Pongal celebrations in Delhi and Sudha Kongara's comments on censor-related issues faced by the film.
Our CE review of the Parasakthi read, "If the film gets one thing inarguably right, it is how it dismisses the most recurring slander against the movement at the outset: it is not against Hindi or Hindi speakers but against the administrative imposition of the language. We hear it repeated more than thrice throughout various points in the film. Director Sudha Kongara takes great pains to make sure that the film does not villanise any language or community. A commendable task. If only a fraction of that effort and nuance also went into portraying the inner world of those who fought for language rights, Parasakthi would have been impactful.
Parasakthi also stars Sreeleela in her Tamil debut and Atharvaa, in leading roles. The film's extended cast includes Kulappulli Leela, Prakash Belawadi, Dev Ramnath, Prithvi Rajan, Guru Somasundaram and Chetan, with cameo appearances from Rana Daggubati and Basil Joseph.
Sudha has written the film along with Arjun Nadesan, with an additional screenplay by Ganeshaa and dialogues by Madhan Karky and Shan Karuppusamy. The crew of the film includes GV Prakash as the music composer, Ravi K Chandran as the cinematographer and Sathish Surya as the editor. Aakash Baskaran has produced the film under his Dawn Pictures banner.
Dev Ramnath has served as the creative producer, along with MP Senthel and Rhea Kongara, who are the executive producers of the film. Red Giant Movies has distributed the film.