Mahesh Babu's Maharshi becomes top Telugu grosser of 2019; Mr Local pulls in Rs 15 cr in opening weekend in TN

Mahesh Babu’s 25th film _Maharshi_ has emerged as the top-grossing Telugu film of 2019, besting 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 cr and went on to become the ninth highest-grossing film ever in Tollywood. Maharshi, which released on 9 May and stormed into the Rs 100 cr club in just four days, has edged past the Rs 140 cr mark in worldwide theatrical sales and is soon expected to touch the Rs 150 cr milestone worldwide. Elated by the response to the film, Mahesh Babu took to his Instagram page and thanked fans for their support.

After hauling in an excellent share of Rs 50 cr in the four-day opening weekend in Telugu states, the film, which stars Pooja Hegde as the female lead, in inching towards the Rs 70 crore share benchmark in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Maharshi has breached past the Rs 150 crore mark worldwide total and has become the second Rs 150 crore grosser for Mahesh Babu in his career, following his highest-grossing movie Bharat Ane Nenu. Whether Maharshi will surpass the lifetime total of Bharat Ane Nenu’s Rs 161 cr will become evident in the next few days. The running worldwide distributor share of the film is pegged at Rs 90 cr. Maharshi marks Mahesh Babu’s second consecutive Rs 90 cr share project after Bharat Ane Nenu. Since the pre-release worldwide theatrical rights were valued at a whopping Rs 95 cr, Maharshi will enter the profit zone once the share reaches the Rs 95 cr mark worldwide. Mahesh Babu will start shooting for his 26th project once he comes back from his family vacation. Mahesh 26 will be directed by Anil Ravipudi who helmed F2: Fun and Frustration. The makers are targeting a Sankranti 2020 release for the film. Sivakarthikeyan and Nayanthara’s _Mr Local_ , which released on 17 May, has raked in a poor opening weekend total of Rs 15.6 cr in TN. Directed by Rajesh and produced by KE Gnanavel Raja’s Studio Green, Mr Local was panned by critics and is doing middling business at the ticket window in the state. According to reliable sources in the trade, Mr Local has to fetch a distributor share of nearly Rs 29 cr in TN to achieve the break-even mark for all the stakeholders. The project marks Sivakarthikeyan’s fifth-best opening weekend after Seema Raja, Velaikkaran, Remo and Rajini Murugan. Mr Local topped the Chennai city weekend box-office with a total of Rs 1.94 cr (68+62+64 lakhs) in three days. SJ Suryah, Priya Bhavani Shankar’s Monster which released alongside Mr Local grossed more than Rs 2 crore in its opening weekend in TN. Vishal’s holdover film Ayogya, an official remake of Telugu blockbuster Temper, garnered a running total of Rs 10 cr in the state including the second-weekend gross of close to Rs 70 lakhs. [caption id=“attachment_6640781” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Sivakarthikeyan in Mr.Local. Image via Twitter/[/caption] This week’s major release will be Telugu film Sita, starring Bellamkonda Sreenivas and Kajal Aggarwal. The film directed by Teja is gearing up for release on 24 May. The pre-release theatrical rights of the film are valued at close to Rs 18 crore.