Sky was the limit for Indian Cinema, and then came Baahubali. We were sure about the fact that it will take Indian cinema at least another decade to reach the Rs 1,000 crore mark as we joy over the Rs 100 crore-club.
Grossing Rs 100 crore seemed to be a great achievement for Indian films, but with the release of Baahubali, the box-office business took a complete turn-around. Now the collections of Big Bollywood films starring the ‘khans’ looks so ordinary. The box-office collections look questionable.
Expectations are high and a lot is at stake for Indian Cinema to match the storm created by the magnum opus ‘Baahubali’. Every forthcoming movie will be compared to Baahubali hereafter, regardless of the genre or the star cast. New standards have been set.
Baahubali successfully maintained the audience level throughout the week. After gaining big numbers in the weekends, the movie showed very minimal footfalls in the weekdays and kept the moolah coming. The movie completed Rs 200 crore for its Hindi version in just five days. Wednesday and Thursday were very strong and added another Rs 45 crore. The movie collected Rs 25 crore on Wednesday and added another Rs 20 crore on Thursday at the box-office taking its week 1 collections closer to Rs 250 crore. This is more than Salman Khan’s Sultan week 1 collection of Rs 230 crore and Aamir’s Dangal week 1 collections of Rs 212 crore.
The overseas market has shown some great strength for Baahubali. The movie is inching closer to Rs 200 crore globally. The Prabhas starrer has grossed more than $13 million at the US box-office in its first week. The movie has collected close to $22 million in all the International markets.
Baahubali reportedly fetched Rs 350 crore before its release from the sale of theatrical, music, digital and satellite rights. This makes Baahubali the biggest pre-release grosser of all time. Aamir’s PK is the highest grossing movie of Indian cinema with a collection of Rs 790 crores at the worldwide box-office. Baahubali, however, will beat the record of PK in 8 days to become the biggest Indian movie of all time. Baahubali grossed Rs 50 crore in the paid-preview shows. The film was up for paid-previews in several international markets and some circuits of India.
South India has been the strongest market for the film. The movie has crossed Rs 200 crore at the southern box-office and is inching closer to Rs 300 crore. Baahubali is all set to become the first Telugu movie to gross Rs 200 crore at the Telugu box-office. The movie will complete Rs 1,000 crore by the end of week 2. Some great numbers are awaited in the second week for SS Rajamouli’s film.
