Vijay‘s Beast, which hit theatres on Wednesday, has reportedly collected around Rs 34 to 36 crore (gross), at the Tamil Nadu box office on its first day.
Written and directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, Beast is produced by Sun Pictures. The invasion thriller, which takes place in a Chennai shopping mall, features Vijay as a RAW agent, alongside actors Pooja Hegde, Shine Tom Chacko, Redin Kingsley, Aparna Das, Yogi Babu, VTV Ganesh, Ankur Ajit Vikal, Liliput Faruqui, and filmmaker Selvaraghavan.
Speaking to Silverscreen India, Tirupur Subramaniam, president of the Tamil Nadu Theatres Association, said that there has been a good response for the film from the audience across the state. He also added that the film is faring well at the box office.
Beast has surpassed the first-day collections in TN of both Ajith Kumar’s Valimai, which earned around Rs 25 crore (gross) when it opened on February 24, and Rajinikanth-starrer Annaththe, which collected Rs 24 crore (net) on its first day.
Beast also outdid Vijay’s previous film Master, which earned around Rs 25 crore at the TN box office on its opening day.
Ahead of the release of Beast, Subramaniam had told us that the film would open on 800-850 screens in Tamil Nadu. However, on Wednesday, the film did not release in Karur city, owing to a disagreement between exhibitors and distributors over the sales percentage terms.
Recommended
Meanwhile, Beast was banned in Kuwait and Qatar over its alleged objectionable portrayal of Muslims. The Tamil Nadu Muslim League (TNML) too had written to the state government demanding a ban on the Vijay-starrer for the same reason. However, the film’s release went ahead as planned in the state.
After Beast, Vijay is gearing up for his 66th film with Telugu filmmaker Vamshi Paidipally. The project is backed by producer Dil Raju under Sri Venkateswara Creations. Also starring actor Rashmika Mandana, the film was officially launched with a pooja ceremony on April 7.