Kaappaan tops TN, Kerala box office in opening weekend; Gaddalakonda Ganesh earns Rs 25 cr globally

Suriya’s Tamil film _Kaappaan_ and Varun Tej’s Telugu movie _Gaddalaonda Ganesh_ are the biggest south Indian releases of last week. Kaappaan marked the third time reunion of Suriya and KV Anand after Ayan and Maattraan, and the project was one of the highly anticipated Tamil star vehicles of 2019. After opening to mixed reviews from critics and fairly positive word-of-mouth from the masses, Kaappaan secured a good day one total of Rs 7.45 crore in Tamil Nadu. The Chennai city gross of the film, which released on 20 September, was estimated as Rs 89 lakhs on day one. For a regular non-working day release, the numbers were excellent for the Suriya-starrer in the city. The cumulative opening day total of Kaappaan and its Telugu version, _Bandobast_ is pegged as Rs 2.1 crore from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka. On Sunday, Kaappaan claimed the third spot in the popular GSC Multiplex Chain in Malaysia, only behind Japanese animated drama One Piece: Stampede, and Hollywood actioner _Rambo: Last Blood_ . [caption id=“attachment_7365931” align=“alignnone” width=“848”]  Suriya in a still from Kaapaan. YouTube[/caption] Produced by Lyca, Kaappaan witnessed an excellent hold on Saturday, and it provided a great fillip for exhibitors with houseful shows on Sunday across all major screens in the state. The film, which also stars Mohanlal, Sayyeshaa, and Arya in essential roles, pulled in a fantastic gross of Rs 1.02 crore on Saturday (21 September) from Chennai, taking the two-day total in the city to Rs 1.89 crore. Kaappaan also received an overwhelming reception in the UAE on its opening day with a total of Rs 2.3 crore from 32,000 admissions. In fact, the lifetime admissions for Suriya’s last release NGK was estimated as 34,000. The first-time collaboration between Suriya and Mohanlal is the significant reason for the film’s marvelous opening in the Gulf region. Kaappaan secured the best opening for any Tamil movie in 2019 in the UAE, besting Rajinikanth’s Petta, and Ajith’s Viswasam. Besides its homeground Tamil Nadu, Kaappaan also topped the Kerala and Bengaluru box office charts for the weekend of 20-22 September. The film earned Rs 1.04 crore in Chennai on Sunday, taking the opening weekend total in the city to Rs 2.95 crore from three days. The Sunday theatrical sales of the movie surpassed its opening day (Friday) revenue in TN, courtesy good word-of-mouth from viewers. The opening weekend gross of the film is estimated as Rs 24 crore in the state. The running worldwide total of Kaappaan has sailed past the Rs 50 crore mark and the weekdays are going to be crucial for the film. Actor-director Parthipan’s Oththa Seruppu, which released alongside Kaappaan, has collected a total of Rs 1.7 crore in TN from the opening weekend. Siddharth and GV Prakash’s Sivappu Manjal Pachai came at the third spot in the weekend box office in TN, followed by director Harish Shankar’s Gaddalakonda Ganesh at the fourth position. An official remake of Tamil gangster thriller Jigarthanda, Gaddalakonda Ganesh opened to good reviews in Telugu states and scored a superb opening day gross of Rs 10.4 crore from global theatrical revenue. Produced by Ram Achanta and Gopichand Achanta under the banner 14 Reels Plus, Gaddalakonda Ganesh has raked in a good opening weekend gross of Rs 25 crore worldwide. Also starring Atharvaa and Pooja Hegde in important roles, Gaddalakonda Ganesh, which was earlier titled Valmiki, topped the all-India multiplexes in occupancy rate, closely followed by Kaappaan at the second spot. Mahesh Babu’s latest endorsement to the film has come as a good boost to the team.