Maharshi dethrones Bharat Ane Nenu to become Mahesh Babu's highest-grossing film; Aladdin tops TN box-office

Mahesh Babu’s  Maharshi  has sailed past the worldwide theatrical revenue of his previous best outing,  Bharat Ane Nenu  to become the top-grossing film of his career at the box-office. The global ticket sales of the film are estimated to be a whopping Rs 168 crore, besting the worldwide gross of director Koratala Siva’s blockbuster Bharat Ane Nenu which pulled in a lifetime total of Rs 161 crore. In 20 days, the worldwide theatrical share of Maharshi is inching towards a peachy Rs 100 crore mark. The Vamshi Paidipally -directed action drama is all set to become fifth-ever Telugu movie to achieve the Rs 100 crore share milestone after Baahubali: The Beginning, Khaidi No 150 , Baahubali: The Conclusion , and  Rangasthalam . It’s also set to become the first film of Mahesh Babu to achieve the Rs 100 crore benchmark in share. Currently, Maharshi is the highest-grossing Telugu film of 2019, eclipsing the lifetime total of Venkatesh, Varun Tej’s commercial potboiler  F2: Fun and Frustration   which amassed a worldwide distributor share of more than Rs 75 crore as we had reported earlier. [caption id=“attachment_6599411” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Mahesh Babu in a still from Maharshi. YouTube[/caption] Jointly bankrolled by three popular production banners such as Dil Raju’s Sri Venkateswara Creations, Ashwini Dutt’s Vyjayanthi Movies, and Prasad V Potluri’s PVP Cinema,  Maharshi earned good reviews from both critics and audiences alike when it landed in cinemas on 9 May. The film stormed into the Rs 100 crore club in Tollywood in its four-day extended weekend and touched the Rs 150 crore worldwide gross mark in less than three weeks. In Tamil Nadu, Maharshi has earned Rs 3.41 crore in 20 days until the third weekend and is already the second top-earning straight Telugu film of Mahesh Babu after Bharat Ane Nenu. In 18 days, the movie has collected nearly Rs 1.02 crore in Chennai city alone, making Maharshi the second consecutive one-crore grosser for Mahesh Babu after Bharat Ane Nenu. Despite the release of Sivakarthikeyan, Nayanthara’s Mr Local and SJ Suryah’s Monster, Maharshi is still holding to a few more shows in a few theaters in the city. For the weekend of May 24-26, Disney’s Aladdin helmed by Guy Ritchie and starring Will Smith topped the Tamil Nadu box-office, outshining other holdover local films such as director Rajesh’s  Mr Local , and Nelson Venkatesan’s Monster. In its opening weekend,  Aladdin  garnered a total of Rs 2.23 crore in the state, followed by  Monster , which raked in an excellent Rs 2.21 crore in its second weekend. The running total of Monster, which is produced by SR Prabhu’s Potential Studios and also features Priya Bhavani Shankar as the lead heroine, stands at a superb Rs 6.25 crore in TN. Meanwhile, the running total of Mr Local, which was distributed by Sakthi Velan’s Sakthi Film Factory, is estimated to be Rs 21 crore in the state. Vishal’s Ayogya has earned an approximate Rs 11 crore from Tamil Nadu theaters until the end of its third-weekend run. Parvathy’s holdover Malayalam drama  Uyare , directed by Manu Ashokan, has vaulted over the Rs 20 crore mark in worldwide ticket sales. The UAE-GCC total alone is estimated to be Rs 7 cr from 24 days of theatrical run. The film, which also features Tovino Thomas in a significant role, has hauled in a total of $82,089 ( Rs 57.20 Lakhs) in the USA. This week is going to witness a huge clash at the Kollywood box-office as Suriya - Selvaraghavan’s political drama  NGK  and Prabhu Deva - Vijay’s horror comedy Devi 2, a sequel to Devi, are all set to lock horns on 31 May. NGK, which also features Rakul Preet Singh and Sai Pallavi in essential roles, marks the return of Suriya to the silver screen after a long gap of 16 months. A lot of early morning shows have been scheduled for the film at famous Chennai theaters.