New Delhi, March 26
Filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli's 'RRR', starring Ram Charan and Jr. NTR, has created a storm by raking in Rs. 30 crore in domestic advance bookings for Day 1.
'RRR' marks Rajamouli's comeback after a hiatus of five years. The international cast of the Telugu-language epic period action drama includes Jr. NTR, Ram Charan, Ajay Devgn, Alia Bhatt, Samuthirakani, Alison Doody, Ray Stevenson, Olivia Morris and Shriya Saran.
Mentioning the phenomenal advance booking, trade analyst Karan Taurani of Elara Capital said: "The advance that you are talking about is domestic. I think the opening will be close to more than Rs 100 crore; in the Hindi belt it will be somewhere between Rs 50 crore and Rs 70 crore."
PVR CEO Gautam Dutta, whose company has a tie-up with 'RRR', sounds ecstatic about the response the film is getting. Dutta said: "RRR is a mega blockbuster that has generated a positive response from audiences across regions. As movie buffs were eagerly awaiting its release, we opened advance bookings from Wednesday and we received a phenomenal response."
He added: "The movie is being released in the IMAX 3D format, which has ensured that it runs to packed houses by magnifying the movie's special effects. We have aligned shows as early as 8.00 a.m. and are drawing strong occupancies as we do not want movie lovers to miss out on catching up on the excitement of the big screen."
'RRR' hits the big screen not much after the release of Vivek Agnihotri's much-talked-about film, 'The Kashmir Files'. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh said the film has collected Rs 207.33 crore, showing a 13.08 per cent growth in Week 2.
Will 'RRR' surpass the collection notched up by 'The Kashmir Files'? Taurani said: "I don't think it will surpass 'The Kashmir Files' in the Hindi belt, but yeah, on a pan-India basis, it should do at least Rs 600-700 crore at the box office."
Dutta said Rajamouli's movies have strong production values and are not constrained by a regional appeal because they are 'Indian' films that resonate with all kinds of audience segments due to their nationalistic narrative.
"The movie has been released in five languages -- Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam -- and is expected to do well across the country," Dutta predicted. PVR has a special association with the movie due to an exclusive partnership with the producers for its promotion.
Will 'RRR' come anywhere near the all-time record box office pickings of the two 'Baahubali' films, which were also made by Rajamouli? Adarsh did not think so.
Also, with 'KGF 2' scheduled to be released three weeks after 'RRR', Rajamouli's epic won't get much exclusive run time. Nonetheless, 'RRR' will keep the cash counters busy at the cinemas, which have been on a high after 'The Kashmir Files' picked up phenomenally.
