The Tamil film VALIMAI set an all time record by registering the highest opening ever in the state of Tamil Nadu as it beat the figures of the November Diwali release ANNAATTHE by around a little more than 1 crore nett. VALIMAI collected around 25 crore nett apprx in Tamil Nadu. It grossed another 5 crore nett in the rest of India for an all India total of 30 crore nett.

The Hindi version VALIMAI - THE POWER was like a paid preview release yesterday and there were limited collections. Not much can is expected at the box office and the only comparison is another Tamil film MASTER which released early last year and collected around 40 lakhs nett in Hindi on day one with disaster results like 3 lakhs from 100 plus screens in West Bengal. There were no other releases at the time and so, the film managed to get a good release.

VALIMAI is going to be about Tamil Nadu and although the opening day record has come the reports are not encouraging and there is a big drop in collections today (day 2). It was seen on Diwali that ANNAATTHE fizzled out after a huge start. That was on a national holiday; so, the hope here is that the collections have come without a national holiday so they will hold up better.

The apprx top opening days in Tamil Nadu are as follows.

2. Annatthe (2021) - 24 cr

3. Sarkar (2018) - 23 cr

4. Bigil (2019)- 20 cr

5. Kabali (2016) - 19.5 cr

6. Master (2021) - 19.5 cr (50% occupancy rule but many places screened with 100% occupancy)

The Telugu film BHEEMLA NAYAK has also seen a earth shattering opening and the Nizam side of Nizam/Andhra should beat the numbers of PUSHPA: THE RISE - PART 01. The Andhra side has issues with ticket pricing as the local government goes strict with the film as the hero Pawan Kalyan stood up against the state government. Despite the huge start it remains to be seen how it is reflected in the final numbers.

The opening of this film and the others before proves that Pawan Kalyan is the biggest star seen in South India post the heady days of Rajinikanth and Chiranjeevi. However, the problem is that after these insane starts, the holds tend to be weak as the films itself are totally star driven and content is probably not so strong. Still the raw star power of this guy cant be denied as it remains intact even after a handful of films not sustaining well at the box office. It remains to be seen if BHEEMLA NAYAK is different and holds after the initial but again the reports are mixed.