Expectations ran high when Kanguva hit the screens on November 14, 2024. With Suriya performing a dual role, it was touted as a blockbuster. Indeed, the very promise made by the advertising trail of the film was to be a great treat of action and drama.
In reality, though, it has been more of an uphill journey than what had been promised. Such uncertainty was the situation that the second day saw a sharp drop at ₹9 crores, from the opening collection of ₹58.62 crores.
This mixed response has been one of the main reasons for the fall. The movie has received a decent response for Suriya’s performance, but it gets poorly criticized for its outdated script and loud sound effects.
The plot is termed as messy with an incomplete continuity between two different eras. The budget for the movie has also been too over-the-top at a point, particularly when it will be competing against other upcoming movies like Pushpa 2: The Rule that might take over the screen.
The overall lukewarm response is reflected in the occupancy percentages also, especially for Tamil Nadu, which has managed 18.57 percent on the second day. The Hindi markets have been even more faintly sceptical with 11.03% occupancy. This underwhelming performance somehow puts a question mark on the very tag of “wild storm” given to Kanguva.
Even though the opening is encouraging by #Kanguva, the sustainability at the box office seems doubtful. Mixed reviews and relatively minimal, cold audience reception will keep the latter against the hype created in the lead-up to its release. It remains to be seen if this film can eventually recover, but as things stand, it only seems unable to make a stronger mark.