For all the festive fervor that attends Pongal and Sankranti, Prabhas’ latest outing, The Raja Saab, is facing a punishing slog of struggle at the box office. On Day 7, the Maruthi-directed horror-comedy saw little if any growth, raising grave questions whether it could reclaim its massive investment.
Day 7 Collections: A Flat Show
The Raja Saab earned about ₹5.50 crore India net in total over all languages on Thursday (Pongal holiday overlapping). This brings it to an estimated ₹130.40 crore for a one-week domestic total. Going over ₹130 crore in a week is a tall order for most people but relatively underwhelming for a Prabhas-starrer particularly one released in the lucrative holiday market.
The film’s performance was still heavily skewed towards the Telugu states, where it had an average occupancy of 36.80%. The Hindi market showed little interest and occupancy was a dour 9.21%.
The Budget Burden: A Near Disaster?
Produced by People Media Factory on an alleged ₹400 crore budget, The Raja Saab is currently staring at a huge deficit.
Budget: ~₹400 Crore
India Net (Day 7): ~₹130.40 Crore
Worldwide Gross: ~₹175 Crore
Recovery Rate: ~32.5%
In order to be qualified “Hit”, the film requires a net revenue of almost ₹400 crore in India alone. With things going according to the prevailing trends, trade analysts have forecast that the film may not even get beyond the ₹175 crore net value at national shores, and become one of the biggest commercial disappointments in recent Tollywood history.
Heterogeneous Reviews and ‘The Missing 4 Minutes’
Since opening, the film has been mired in mixed to negative word-of-mouth. Critics have termed the screenplay “muddled,” but some critics have praised Prabhas’ “vintage” comic timing. In attempt to increase footfall, producer TG Vishwa Prasad announced recently that four minutes of more footage (of Prabhas in an older avatar they love) will be released to theaters. The producers are hoping fans will take another chance at watching this “bonus” content over the weekend.
The Road Ahead
The second weekend is now in front of everyone’s eyes. Unless there is a massive surge in collections, The Raja Saab runs the risk of repeating the trajectory of other recent big-budget “bombs.”
For now, the film is a regional crowd-pleaser, failed to deliver pan-India magic typical of a “Rebel Star” project.
