Vijay's "Puli" may not be able to beat the records of SS Rajamouli's "Baahubali - the Beginning" (Bahubali), which is the biggest opener and highest grossing South Indian movie.
"Baahubali - the Beginning", which recently took the box office by storm, has broken records of all old South Indian movies. The Prabhas and Rana Daggubati starrer has become a historical success by creating new benchmarks, which look impossible for many big-ticket Bollywood films to achieve.
"Puli", which is scheduled to hit theatres on 1 October, happens to be the next big-budget movie from the south. Like "Baahubali - the Beginning", the Vijay starrer is also a historical film made on par with Hollywood standards and produced with a whopping budget of Rs 118 crore.
Directed by Chimbu Deven, "Puli" features an ensemble cast of Vijay, Sudeep, Sridevi, Shruti Haasan, Hansika Motwani, Prabhu and Nandita Swetha. The movie stands equal to "Baahubali - the Beginning" in many aspects. But the film will not be able to beat the records of SS Rajamouli's movie, especially the opening day (Rs 75 crore gross) and lifetime collection (Rs 600+ crore).
Here are five reasons why Vijay's "Puli" will not be able to break the records of "Baahubali":
1. Screen count
"Baahubali - the Beginning" was made in Tamil and Telugu and dubbed in Malayalam and Hindi. All the four versions together released in over 4,000 screens across the globe. But "Puli" will be released in three languages, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, which will together grace around 3,000 cinema halls around the world. So the screen count of the Vijay starrer will be 25% less than that of the Prabhas starrer.
2. Promotion
The makers of "Baahubali" had adapted several innovative promotional strategies right from the beginning of its production. But the makers of "Puli" lag behind in this aspect. They have followed the regular strategies of publicity, which has limited its reach and curiosity among film goers, when compared to "Baahubali".
3. Unprecedented reach
With his brilliant direction in "Eega" and "Magadheera", SS Rajamouli grabbed many eyeballs, both in India and abroad. Millions of film goers across the globe had been closely following every update on his venture "Baahubali" right from the beginning of its production.
Superstar "Vijay", the hero of "Puli", has also got huge fan following around the world, but his fan base does not match that of Rajamouli, both in India and abroad. Secondly, the reach of the actor's movie is limited to some sections of the audience, whereas the Rajamouli brand name is far more formidable and helped "Baahubali" in spreading its popularity.
4. Advance Booking
A day before its release, "Baahubali – The Beginning" had registered over 90% advance booking for its opening day. It had got decent amount of booking for the first week. But "Puli" has recorded 70% booking for its opening day. The movie has an average amount of bookings for the following days and its growth depends on word- of-mouth.
5. Clash with big ticket releases
"Baahubali – The Beginning" was a solo big release and did not have any big ticket competition from Telugu, Tamil and Hindi in its opening week. The movie had clashed with "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", "Drishyam", "Brothers", "Maari", "Vaalu" and "Srimanthudu" in the following weeks.
But in its opening week, "Puli" locks horns with Bollywood movie "Singh is Bling" and Telugu film "Shivam". The Vijay starrer will clash with big ticket movies such as "Jazbaa", "Shaandaar", "Naanum Rowdy Thaan", "Visaranai", "Rajini Murugan", "Rudhramadevi", "Size Zero", "Bruce Lee", "Akhil", "Loafer" and "Attack" in the subsequent weeks.
