Ranabaali Crossed Rs 50 Crore, and That Is Not the Number Vijay Deverakonda Wanted

Photo: Dani Charles, silverscreen.in, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Ranabaali opened on October 16 to a very healthy Rs 9.25 crore, which is the kind of first day that comes with a Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna pairing and a period action setting. Then it did what a lot of big openers do. The second Friday came in at roughly Rs 2 crore, an 80 percent drop from day one, and the India total sits at a little over Rs 50 crore after eight days. Trade estimates have the final run finishing under Rs 65 crore.

Rahul Sankrityan directs, and the film has the scale and the costumes and the slow-motion battle shots you expect from the genre. What it does not seem to have, going by the audience chatter, is a story that holds together between the set pieces. I have not seen a proper critical consensus form around it, which is itself telling. People talked about the opening, then they stopped talking.

The pairing still sells tickets, and the off-screen interest in the two of them is doing a lot of the lifting. For a film this expensive, though, Rs 50 crore is a solid-looking number that hides a soft result. Did you catch it opening weekend, and did the second half hold up for you?