Kanguva, starring Suriya and Bobby Deol, might have created much buzz in the industry but saw much disappointing performance at the box office. Despite after big time promotional campaign for Hindi-speaking audiences, it could collect nearly 22 crores in India and close to 40 crores worldwide on its first day.
However, not to forget with such an outstanding budget of almost 350 crores, these collections are pretty low.
Its poor performance in North India where it collected only around 4 crores on it’s opening day is one of the most striking features. Although it had heavy pre-release hype and gross marketing, Kanguva couldn’t reach the viewers in this region. One of the main reasons could be that the audience of North India may not have connected with the storyline that is rooted in South Indian history.
Such cultural overtones and narrative compulsions in this film must have been too unfamiliar for audiences in this region. This film was highly publicized, but it probably did not find its appropriate target North Indian market in its authentic forms. Perhaps the advertisement material was not even targeted toward the dominant elements that describe the appeal to this audience, which further lead to lack of interest.
The movie also received mixed reactions due to people criticizing the direction and the script of it. Negative word-of-mouth can really hamper a movie’s performance, especially in areas where the audience is highly critical. The multiplexes that exist more in North India may have screens lesser in number. This could have restricted the reach and accessibility of the film to a larger audience.
Also, the worldwide reception of Kanguva has not been any better. If we were to compare this movie to the usual Hollywood superhero films, Western viewers, however, did not seem too interested in Kanguva.
Given that western audience tastes have shifted away from conventional superhero movies, this niche genre would have actually helped the film. Nevertheless, the cultural references and methods of storytelling in these elements run so deep in South Indian traditions that they might be too alien or arcane for the Western viewer.
Kanguva stands as an example of initial success overshadowed by deep and insurmountable challenges. Its inability to sustain momentum, particularly in the northern belt and worldwide level, suggests a deeper problem related to market saturation and some defaults in telling new and innovative stories. Although the film’s initial earnings are good, its success is still questionable.
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