Sivakarthikeyan's Hero sails past Rs 20 cr in Tamil Nadu; Prati Roju Pandage pulls in Rs 25 cr globally

The movies which released ahead of Christmas on 20 December continue to hold fort at the box office in Tamil Nadu as well as the Telugu states. Quite a few new Tamil films released on 27 December, but they couldn’t manage to make a dent in the box office space. That said, Sillu Karupatti has won rave reviews and is being celebrated as one of the best Tamil films of 2019. The film has been released in Tamil Nadu by Sakthi Film Factory and is presented by Suriya’s 2D Entertainment. Directed by Halitha Shameem of _Poovarasam Peepee-_fame, Sillu Karupatti is acknowledged as a high quality creation by leading Tamil filmmakers too. Pancharaaksharam and V1 Murder Case have also received fairly good reviews, among the 27 December releases. Going back to Hero and Thambi , the big releases of 20 December, the latter has sustained far better compared to Hero, and has reduced the gap in its gross collections with that of Hero in a big margin. The family friendly nature of the film is making it a better pick during the year-end vacation for audiences in Tamil Nadu. [caption id=“attachment_7850651” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] A still from Hero. Image from YouTube[/caption] Hero lead by Sivakarthikeyan has reportedly grossed Rs 20.12 crore in Tamil Nadu after 10 days while Karthi’s Thambi has pulled in close to Rs 19 crore. Thambi, which also stars Jyotika, has minted a total of Rs 2.87 crore in Chennai city, while Hero has earned Rs 3.18 crore. Both films have certainly under performed, with Hero’s result particularly shocking the trade. The previous turned out to be a mixed bag for Karthi, with the mega blockbuster Kaithi, the underwhelming Dev and now the below-par Thambi. Both films will be looking to make the most of the New Year holiday and this coming third weekend when the Tamil dubbed version of Rakshit Shetty ’s latest Kannada offering, Avane Srimannarayana will be released in Tamil Nadu on 3 January by Screen Scene Entertainment. The opening 3-days Chennai city gross of some of the new releases on 27 December is as follows, Good Newwz - Rs 29 lakh Sillu Karupatti - Rs 17 lakh V1 Murder Case - Rs 8 lakh 50/50 - Rs 8 lakh Pancharaaksharam - Rs 5 lakh All eyes in Tamil Nadu are now on Rajinikanth’s Darbar , which is slated to release on 9 January ahead of the Pongal festivities. Dhanush’s Pattas and Mirchi Siva’s Sumo will be the other two films for Pongal, likely to be out on 15 January. Till then, the likes of Hero and Thambi will continue to get good playtime in theaters across the state. Coming to Tollywood, family entertainer _Prati Roju Pandage_ has emerged as an outright blockbuster and has earned a theatrical share of around Rs 25 crore after ten days. The total theatrical rights of PRP are valued at Rs 18 crore and the film has already bagged handsome profits for all its stakeholders. Its lifetime theatrical share is expected to cross the Rs 30 crore mark. PRP is a phenomenal success for its budding young lead hero Sai Dharam Tej, who had the moderately successful Chitralahari earlier in 2019. _Venky Mama_ has also emerged as a successful film for its producers Suresh Productions, who released the film on their own in almost all the territories in the Telugu states. The Telugu industry is also gearing up for its big Sankranti releases in Mahesh Babu’s Sarileru Neekevvaru, Allu Arjun’s Ala Vaikunthapurramloo and the Telugu dubbed version of Darbar. Entha Manchivaadavuraa is another noteworthy Sankranti release. Till then, PRP will continue to make merry at the trade windows.