iSmart Shankar earns Rs 45 cr globally in opening weekend; Kadaram Kondan tops TN box office

After a slew of underwhelming films, director Puri Jagannadh has finally hit the bull’s eye with his latest Telugu release _iSmart Shankar_ . The film has set the box-office on fire with a fantastic global total of Rs 45 cr in its four-day opening weekend. iSmart Shankar saw the light of day on 18 July and pulled in a solid opening day total of Rs 13.5 cr with a distributor share of Rs 8.9 cr. Starring Ram Pothineni, Nabha Natesh and Nidhhi Agerwal in lead roles, iSmart Shankar still continues to set the cash registers ringing at the ticket window in its weekdays in both the Telugu states. On Monday, according to reliable sources from the trade, the film has earned an outstanding share of Rs 2.7 cr taking the running worldwide share to nearly Rs 29 cr. The movie produced by Puri Jagannadh and Charmme Kaur marks the real comeback for the former after his blockbuster 2015 action drama Temper, which starred Junior NTR in the lead role. [caption id=“attachment_7018911” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  A still from iSmart Shankar[/caption] The worldwide theatrical rights of iSmart Shankar are estimated to be Rs 20 cr, and the film is already declared a clean blockbuster by the trade. With steady footfalls in theaters in weekdays, the film is heading towards the double blockbuster status with nearly 200% recovery from the investment. At the end of the second weekend, the film would have become one of the most profitable Telugu releases of 2019. iSmart Shankar is expected to enjoy a good number of showings in Telugu states until Thursday, as Vijay Deverakonda, Rashmika Mandanna’s campus romance Dear Comrade is all set for release on 26 July with high expectations from audiences and the trade. Now, the five-day share of the film in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana stands at a total of Rs 23.73 cr, with Nizam contributing the lion’s share of Rs 10.54 cr. The film has earned a total of $226,610 (Rs 1.57 cr) in the USA, one of the strong markets for Telugu cinema. Meanwhile, plagiarism charges leveled by Tamil actor Jai Akash against Puri Jagannadh has grabbed the headlines over the last few days. “When I went to watch iSmart Shankar, I was shocked to realize that the story and concept were blatantly copied from my Tamil film Naan Yaar. I have already filed a complaint against Puri Jagannadh and team in Tamil Film Producer’s Council. I have been trying to reach him, but I’m not able to get through,” Jai Akash told reporters. [caption id=“attachment_7028711” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  A still from Kadaram Kondai[/caption] Chiyaan Vikram’s _Kadaram Kondan_ and Amala Paul’s women-centric film Aadai  locked horns at the TN box-office on 19 July. While Kadaram Kondan topped the Tamil Nadu and Chennai city box-office for the weekend of 19-21 July, Aadai was outnumbered by Disney’s highly-anticipated live-action drama  _The Lion King_ which occupied the second spot in both TN and Chennai. Directed by _Thoongavanam-_helmer Rajesh M Selvan and bankrolled by Kamal Haasan’s Raaj Kamal Films International and Trident Arts, Kadaram Kondan earned a decent opening day gross of Rs 3.9 cr in TN. The film’s opening weekend numbers are estimated to be Rs 12.25 cr in the state. The Lion King’s opening weekend gross is pegged at Rs 10.3 cr, followed by Aadai, which missed the morning and noon shows on Friday due to a delayed-release owing to last-minute financial hiccups. Samantha Akkineni’s holdover fantasy comedy-drama Oh Baby , which surpassed the Rs 30 crore mark in worldwide revenue in two weeks of theatrical run, has accumulated a healthy running total of Rs 38 cr until the end of its third weekend. The film’s running total in the USA stands at $991,567 and is just shy of $8500 to hit the magical milestone of $1M. It will soon become the fourth Telugu movie to attain the million-dollar feat in 2019 after F2: Fun and Frustration , Maharshi , and Jersey .