The pan-India phenomenon started with Prabhas in SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali 2 in 2017. The film stunned everyone when it opened to 40 crores net on its first day in the Hindi belts.
In 2015 Baahubali opened at 5 crores and Baahubali 2 jumped by 8 times. In today’s real value, the opening of Baahubali 2 is worth 75 crores.
Since then many pan-Indian films have been released but none could reach the level of Baahubali 2.
Prabhas’ Saaho, a follow-up to Baahubali, opened at 24 crores, which was great in 2019. Allu Arjun’s Pushpa opened at 3 crores but went on to do 100 crores net lifetime business which was unprecedented. Pushpa 2 might open at 80 crores net on its first day given the unimaginable craze.
KGF 2 opened at 53 crores due to the sequel craze. SS Rajamouli’s RRR opened to 19 crores and collected Rs. 275 crores in its lifetime. Prabhas’ pan-India mythological misfire Adipruush collected 32 crores but later fizzled out due to poor content. Now all eyes are on Salaar.
According to trade, Salaar should do a business of 200 crores net in the Hindi version to achieve break even. The minimum target for Salaar (Hindi) on its opening day would be to cross RRR’s 19 crores and then display long legs at the box office and eventually emerge a hit with strong word of mouth.
The advance bookings for Salaar have started today in North India and the response has been decent with 5K tickets sold in 6 hours. The film, as of now, is on course to collect 15 crores in its Hindi version on its opening day, which is a bit underwhelming.