As the first big release of summer, coming nearly two months after the last two major releases, Pawan Kalyan’s Katamarayudu was highly anticipated. Moreover, the film’s release around Ugadi potentially meant more footfalls for the film.
However, the collections of the film so far, especially in major arenas like the US and Nizam region don’t seem to be very encouraging. For instance, day one collections of Katamarayudu in the US is a share of Rs 1.98 crore, which is far lesser when compared to that of Sardaar Gabbar Singh (SGS) which had a share of Rs 2.95 crore.
In the Nizam area, day one collections saw a share of Rs 4.12 crore, that was more than SGS. But it slowed down over the weekend. With Ugadi, it is possible that collections could go up, but the film isn’t holding up as well as expected.
“On Sunday night, we checked on some of the theatres in Hyderabad and there wasn’t a heavy rush.We expected the first weekend to finish on a high,” says a prominent member of a Pawan Kalyan fan club.
Sources say that the fate of this film was sealed right from the start, from a bad script to a disinterested Pawan. “The success or failure of a film isn’t in one’s hands, but the effort surely is. It is a business at the end of the day, but this time, the motivation seemed to lay only in money and not the story. The film was made with a budget of around Rs 25-30 crore and did a business of nearly Rs 110 crore — that says a lot,” says a boxoffice analyst.
It also appears that the actor wasn’t quite in his element. “Pawan did not get into the character, as he normally does. He put in a lot of effort with SGS since it was his own script.
But this time there were instances when he would be satisfied with a performance even though it was evident he could do better. He is known not to hesitate for retakes, but this time he didn’t care as much,” reveals a source from the unit.
However, the film’s director Dolly denies this: “He was in character, which is evident from the audience response. I cannot okay a shot unless I am sure about it and he is someone who checks if he needs to do another take!”
A writer, on condition of anonymity, points out, “The script of Veeram was weak. Choosing it for a remake wasn’t a good decision. Some effort would have helped elevate it because many bad scripts have been salvaged by good performances and writing. This film lacked an emotional connect despite having family emotion as its core.”
This weekend, audiences will have more films to choose from, as Katamarayudu will compete with Guru, Rogue and Dora. So, one has to wait and watch how the film fares.
