Tamil Cinema’s Dream Project ‘Ponniyin Selvan Part-1‘ was released days ago to great reviews. With record-breaking Day 1 collections, the film is roaring at the domestic and international box office.
The movie, as per Lyca Productions, clocked the biggest ever opening day collection for a Tamil film worldwide with 80cr + gross. The magnum opus is also reportedly doing brilliantly in the US and UK. The hype of the magnum opus is only getting bigger and bigger, with the film being praised by the fans of Kalki’s literature for the grounded approach to storytelling, the terrific performance of the cast and crew, AR Rahman’s magic, and Mani Ratnam‘s direction. While the movie is doing well in terms of numbers, it is to be noted that a huge portion of it is coming from the south market, especially from home ground Tamil Nadu itself.
The numbers the film is grossing in the Hindi belt (reportedly 4 cr+ in 2 days) is decent for a Hindi dubbed film but is disappointing according to some trade experts for a big budget film such as ‘PS-1’. The two parts were made at a reported budget of 500cr and the first part is being distributed in the Hindi belt by reputed Pen Studios.
PS-1 has been modestly marketed in the North through interviews. The cast also appeared on ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was the only true big Hindi star in the cast, with Sobitha Dhulipala’s role in the first film being quite small. It seems the film is going down the same path as Kamal Hassan’s ‘Vikram’ which was a blockbuster in the south market but had a disappointing lifetime collection of just over 6cr as per Bollywood Hungama in Hindi.
PS-1 had invariably come into comparisons with Bahubali and this may have given the theater-goers the wrong expectations from the film. While the Bahubali films were fictional, Ponniyin Selvan is a historic epic with a small amount of fiction. The storytelling is grounded so the audience who expected mass moments was left disappointed. The characters’ names and history too were difficult to follow, opined some.
In this situation, the big question before the makers is whether they should still market the second film in the north or just focus on the south. With the film coming on Prime Video, people liking the film may help the second film get more Hindi viewers. The viewers would also have an idea of what to expect and hence would not be left disappointed.
Ponniyin Selvan Part 2 is supposed to release 6 to 9 months after the first film. With part 1 introducing all the characters and with the unexpected end scene, a solid foundation for the second part has been set. As many fans are commenting, let us hope the film gets its due in the Hindi belt so part 2 can be a true pan indian success.
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