Prabhas Effect? Ramayana Faces Tough BO Questions

Ramayana's South India box office debate

Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana has done well in Hindi. But the numbers in other languages have not been as big as expected, specifically in Kannada, even though Yash’s main market for collections is in Karnataka.

On the other hand, the collection in Telugu states is now creating headlines. Notably, the film has underperformed in those regions. The situation is the same in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Although a specific reason remains unknown, social media and trade experts have formed a theory behind all of this.

Three years ago, when Adipurush was released in theatres, it was completely rejected in the three territories. A majority now believes that since Om Raut’s film was made on a similar scale and hardly offered anything, they preferred to do the same thing with Ranbir Kapoor’s film. Netizens still stated that the situation could be different when the second part is released in 2028.

But at the same time, the film has performed well in South India compared to the numbers generated by other Hindi movies. On the North side, the collections have been excellent but not massive, considering the scale of the film.

As of now, the Tamil version has collected Rs. 32 crores and the Kerala version has done Rs. 30 crores in nine days. The Tamil collections have been decent since people in some places of the territory worship Ravana, who has been glorified to some extent in the film.

The Tamil collections are also surprising, specifically at a time when Suriya’s Scene is creating records. Amid all of this, audience demand has forced exhibitors to add more shows, which means the screen count will increase in the second week. This also means that the collections in Tamil Nadu and Kerala might increase a little bit.

A particular section reacted to the collections on social media by saying that audiences have already witnessed the best version of the story created by Ramanand Sagar years ago on television. This could be one of the main reasons why people are finding it hard to accept Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, and Yash playing the roles of Ram, Sita, and Ravana.

Ramayana has already touched the mark of Rs. 1,000 crores in 8-9 days. But based on the budget, it needs much more than what it has done so far. Since there is no major competition until November 27, Ramayana has an opportunity to hit as many sixes as possible. However, it will be interesting to see the records it has made by the end of its theatrical run.