KGF: Chapter 2 shatters box office records

Prashanth Neel's period action drama KGF: Chapter 2 is all the rage across the country. The sequel to the 2018 blockbuster, KGF: Chapter 1, was highly anticipated since its announcement and box-office figures confirm that the new film, the second in eight years for director Prashanth Neel and actor Yash, has exceeded all expectations. Hombale films, the production house of KGF: Chapter 2, confirmed that a whooping 134.5 crores was collected on Thursday, the opening day. The Hindi version of the film has grossed Rs. 53.95 crores, making it the highest ever first-day collection for any film in the language, ahead of War and Thugs of Hindostan.

"The success isn't a surprise," said  SR Prabhu of Dream Warrior, Pictures the Tamil Nadu distributor of KGF: Chapter 2, "We foresaw it even before we bought the rights of the film and were confident that the audience would love the second part even more than the first." He went on to share an impressive statistic: "The second part has recovered the lifetime collection of the first film in Tamil Nadu, and it has done this in just one day. I am confident that this is the same in other languages as well."

Manoj Desai, the Executive Director of G7 Multiplex and Maratha Mandir Cinema in Mumbai, painted a picture of happiness too. "A total of almost 1,000 seats, across both our screens, are already sold out for the weekend. The film has performed exceedingly well and the positive reviews have helped too." A reduction in COVID panic, relaxation of mask mandates and early morning shows have all combined to result in increased footfalls across the county. "The shows on our property began as early as 4 am and we have scheduled nine shows in all. The early shows have a higher fare because of the flexible ticket pricing option," shared Kavitha, manager of Mukta A2 Cinemas, Bengaluru. Meanwhile, the Malayalam dubbed version of the film, distributed by actor Prithviraj Sukumaran, has reportedly dethroned Mohanlal's Odiyan to become the highest-grossing film in the language by grossing Rs. 7.2 crores on the first day. 

And yet, distributor and the president of the Tamil Nadu Theatres' Association president, Tirupur Subramaniam, stated that Vijay's Beast continues to lead the box office race in Tamil Nadu for the moment. "KGF 2 is undoubtedly a massive success, but it hasn't won over Beast, simply because of the sizeable difference in the number of screens allotted. Beast got over 800 screens overall, while KGF 2 got only around 250 screens."

KGF: Chapter-2 will face competition in the form of Bollywood releases like Shahid Kapoor's Jersey (April 22), Tiger Shroff's Heropanti 2 and Ajay Devgn's Runway 34, during the coming days. However, going by the massive online pre-booking numbers and the strong word of mouth publicity, stakeholders are convinced that the film about 'India's biggest criminal' is on track to becoming India's biggest blockbuster.