How often have we heard that an Indian movie’s blockbuster success spiked audience interest and viewership for its predecessor film? Bahubali series, check. KGF series, check. We have a new entry to this coveted list now. None other than the pilot film in the Lokesh Cinematic Universe (as named by the fans) aka ‘Kaithi’.
Vikram‘s blockbuster success has paid off to director Lokesh Kanagaraj and his characters in many more ways. But the most prominent gainer is ‘Dhilli’ aka the protagonist of his 2019 film ‘Kaithi’.
Kamal Haasan starrer ‘Vikram’ released at the movies on June 3rd, and is still making waves everywhere. Not a single box-office record is left unbroken in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The film is also doing decent business in Hindi despite null promotions. Director Lokesh Kanagaraj himself asked the audience to watch ‘Kaithi’ before Vikram as the film takes off from where ‘Kaithi’ ends. Not only are there many Kaithi related Easter eggs in Vikram, fans of Karthi’s ‘Dhilli’ could also catch tiny glimpses of the character in the film.
**spoiler alert**, The OGs also know that Lokesh places the possibility of a face-off of sorts between Suriya’s Rolex and Team Vikram, comprising of Fahadh Faasil’s Amar, Karthi’s Dhilli and Naren’s Inspector Bejoy by the end of Vikram. Quite obviously with all the hype around Kamal Haasan’s comeback film ‘Vikram’ and all the furore around how ‘Kaithi’ is the film that starts the LCU, people who couldn’t even watch Vikram at the movies would have thought of watching Kaithi, if not already.
Quite evidently the success and hype around ‘Vikram’ has pushed the viewership of ‘Kaithi’ across streaming platforms. Reports suggest over 100% spike in viewership for the original Tamil version on Disney+Hotstar. Besides that, the Hindi version is now consistently trending on #1 on Sony Liv. There’s also increased viewership for the Hindi dubbed version of ‘Kaithi’ on YouTube. Now we can only predict how mammoth of a success will ‘Vikram’ be on the streaming once it drops on Disney+Hotstar.
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