Megastar Chiranjeevi’s ‘Godfather’ had huge hopes riding on it. After the veteran star’s last outing ‘Acharya’ also co-starring son and ‘RRR’ star Ram Charan was a disaster theatrically, ‘Godfather’ was looked upon to be what the former could not be. While the film too didn’t perform theatrically, it seems the movie is getting a much better response upon its digital release on Netflix, especially for its Hindi version.
‘Godfather’, the official remake of the blockbuster Malayalam film ‘Lucifer’ could gross only 119 cr+ against its 100 cr budget despite getting positive responses from the public. The movie, to the delight of internet trolls, could not outgross ‘Lucifer’ either, which grossed 175 cr during its theatrical run. However, what is now a delightful surprise to the makers and fans is the rising popularity of the film on Netflix. The film’s Telugu and Hindi versions are performing quite well on the platform. In fact, the Hindi version is the No.1 film on Netflix India this week, even pushing back the much acclaimed Netflix original film ‘Monica O My Darling’.
Besides the film being a mass outing starring an ensemble cast including Nayanthara and Satya Dev, one of the biggest reasons for the film’s popularity may be attributed to the cameo of Salman Khan. Even though his presence is a minute one, being one of the biggest stars India has ever seen, it seems just a few minutes is enough to bring attention to a project and get his fans to watch a film.
As per the streaming popularity checking website FlixPatrol, the film is easily leading this week on the Netflix Top Movies list with 54 points, followed by Madhavan starrer ‘Dhokha: Round D Corner’ with 27 points and ‘Monica O My Darling’ in the second week with 21 points. Malayalam horror film ‘Kumari’ and Netflix’s big venture ‘Slumberland’ closely follow.
Everything said and done, Chiranjeevi’s flop movie’s gross is still the dream gross for many in the Indian industry in general. He will be next seen in ‘Waltair Veerayya’ and ‘Bhola Shankar’. With the hype for the former quite decent, the reported release of the film in January next year will be the much-needed success the star needs.