Director Pa Ranjith's Kaala has got a good opening and made a decent collection at the box office on the first day, but failed to beat the record of Rajinikanth's Kabali in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (AP/T).
Tamil superstar Rajinikanth boasts of a huge fanbase in the Telugu states and the promos of his latest outing Kaala had struck a chord with the audience in these areas. The hype and demand surrounding it made its theatrical rights for this regions sell for a record price. The distributors booked over 600 screens in both these areas to cash in the Rajini mania. The hype helped it register it good advance booking.
After seeing its hype, screen count, booking, trade experts from the Telugu film industry predicted that Kaala would start with a bang and make a superb collection at the AP/T box office. The movie would become the biggest opener for Rajinikanth in the Telugu states, beating the record of Kabali.
As predicted, Kaala opened to fantastic response in the early morning and regular morning shows across the Telugu states with many cinema halls witnessing 100 percent occupancy. Its business was expected to grow big in the afternoon and evening. But the movie opened mixed talk, which partially affected its collection in the later shows. So the film could not live up to the distributors' expectation.
Its makers or distributors are yet to reveal its opening day collection. If we are to go by early estimates, Kaala has collected approximately Rs 7 to 8 crore gross at the AP/T box office on the first day. The movie is estimated to have earned around Rs 5+ crore for its distributors on its opening day.
Kabali has been the biggest opener for Rajinikanth with its first-day collection at Rs 12.40 crore gross at the AP/T box office, while Lingaa is the second biggest opener for him with its collection of Rs 5 crore gross. Now, Kaala has failed to beat the record of Kabali and ended up being the second biggest opener.
