KALKI 2898 AD has finished with 615 crore nett total across India with the Hindi version finishing at 285 crore nett. The film is the fourth highest grossing film ever in India after BAAHUBALI 2: THE CONLCUSION, KGF - CHAPTER 2 and RRR if we take collections of all versions and all formats. JAWAN is the only Hindi film to cross 600 crore in all versions and stands fifth but the Hindi version of JAWAN is far better.

The film also has a $30 million apprx total in overseas which takes the film to 1000 crore worldwide. It can be a crore or two less depending on the exchange rate you take but that hardly matters as there will be some markets like Japan to come and that will cover that.

There has been an attempt by certain sections of the Hindi film media to degrade the movie as the makers did not indulge in the paid media but at the end of the day its egg on the face for this paid media which is pretty much all the media which operates in the Hindi film industry. The film also actually puts the male lead of the film, Prabhas, in a position that it can be claimed that he is the biggest star in India despite attempts of the media to underplay.

This is due to various reasons with one being the political and religious scenario in the country which has hurt the biggest star of India pre pandmeic and a couple of others and then there are the huge problems the Hindi film industry is having catering to the core Hindi speaking masses (GADAR 2 and STREE 2 notwithstanding). Maybe both these issues are interlinked and time will tell. 

Basically post pandemic, the South markets have become very important for big numbers of our films and going forward it looks like Nizam/Andhra is going to be the key as the attempt will be to compensate some of that lesser Hindi circuit business from Nizam/Andhra. The industry will have seen the numbers for BRAHMASTRA, JAWAN and ANIMAL and will feel they are the tip of the iceberg and Hindi films can push even further in this circuit.

This is an advantage for Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Hrithik Roshan and now also possibly Ranbir Kapoor as they lead the way in the South but looking at the bigger picture, Prabhas is bigger than all these guys put together in the South. Coming back to the Hindi areas, if we take out Mumbai city, NCR and Kolkata, then Prabhas can also give competition to these Hindi film stars. At an All India level, this actually gives the edge to Prabhas.  

The fact that a non Hindi film hero is coming into the equation as the biggest star in the country shows something fundamentally wrong in the industry as it has never happened before and never even been close. The content problem is huge especially with larger than life cinema. There will be Allu Arjun after PUSHPA 2 - THE RULE as well which can do a BAAHUBALI 2 for him also but its what happens after that will determine where he stands in the star stakes.

The reality is that the film industry needs a star in the Hindi speaking states at the level of Amitabh Bachchan in the 80's, Sunny Deol in the 90's or Salman Khan post 2010. At this level, the South guys cant compete in the Hindi states but the question is can that happen as it does not seem possible right now. Depending on the South to push numbers will mean the South heroes have an edge.

The all India collections of KALKI 2898 AD are as follows and its the numbers in Hindi mass circuits puts Prabhas in this position as the film has not actually been appreciated outside the major centres. But still, good enough numbers have come from the smaller circuits.  

Nizam/Andhra - 2,32,00,00,000

Mysore/Karnataka - 36,50,00,000

Tamil Nadu - 32,00,00,000

Kerala - 26,00,00,000

Rest Of India - 4,52,00,000

Regional Total - 3,31,02,00,000