The Raja Saab has clearly turned into a massive box office disaster. After five days, the film has managed to collect only around Rs.155 crore gross worldwide, and the collections are dropping rapidly, according to the trade experts.
There was a small relief on Tuesday because the Hindi version showed a marginal jump due to discounted rates; otherwise, the fall would have crossed 20% again. However, the overall trend is extremely weak. At this pace, the film is almost certain to finish its entire run below Rs.200 crore gross across all languages.
The problem becomes far more serious when the costs are taken into account. The total budget of The Raja Saab is reportedly around Rs.400 crores, according to industry trackers. Even in the best case, the worldwide theatrical recovery is expected to be only about Rs.100 crores producer share. The film had already recovered roughly Rs.150 crore from non-theatrical deals, mainly OTT and satellite.
However, given the disastrous box office performance, it is very likely that these OTT deals will be renegotiated or revised. This is now becoming common for films that underperform at the box office. Even if one assumes that the original OTT deals somehow remain intact, the film will still end up with losses of around Rs.150 crore.
In regions like Nizam, Andhra, and overseas markets, distributors may have paid high prices initially. But in Telugu film trade, losses are usually adjusted through settlements and write offs. These adjustments are necessary for the system to survive; otherwise, distributors would be wiped out and money would stop circulating in the industry. So those high acquisition prices do not change the final outcome of the film.
What makes the failure even more glaring is the contrast with the makers’ claims. The producers had announced that the film collected over Rs.100 crore gross worldwide on its very first day. However, when the total collection after five days stands at just Rs.155 crore and the lifetime is likely to end under Rs.200 crore, it exposes how badly the film has collapsed.
Commercially, The Raja Saab now sits alongside Radhe Shyam as one of India’s biggest box-office disasters. In terms of audience and critical backlash, it joins Adipurush for becoming the most trolled and slammed movie across the country.
