Thalapathy Vijay is one of the biggest film stars of Tamil Nadu, who has delivered several blockbusters in his illustrious acting career. This Pongal saw the release of the Dil Raju production, Varisu, which is essentially a family drama led by Vijay with Rashmika Mandanna. The movie clashed with Ajith Kumar's Thunivu at the box office and the clash did impact its theatrical prospects.
According to early estimates, Varisu collected Rs. 20 crores on its opening day followed by Rs. 9 crores on Day 2, and finally, Rs. 8 crores on its third day taking the total collection to Rs. 37 crores. It is running neck to neck with Thunivu at the box office, lagging behind by just a crore, which is primarily due to limitations on the showcasing in the state.
The initial audience talk indicates that the word of mouth of Varisu is slightly better than Thunivu, which means, the film should score big on Saturday and Sunday and take the lead over the Ajith Kumar film. Given the family genre, the Pongal holiday should benefit Varisu over Thunivu at the box office.
The clash has definitely harmed the prospects of the film, and had it come solo, the three-day total would have easily been above Rs. 50 crore number with the five-day weekend falling in the Rs. 80 crore range. Both Vijay and Ajith are the biggest crowd-pullers in Tamil Nadu at the moment.
