After a historic opening day, Nag Ashwin’s Kalki 2898 AD held strongly on its first Friday, avoiding a huge dip and ensuring that the film will, in all likeliness, coast through for a strong lifetime run. The opening day was largely due to Prabhas’ star power in the south, which resulted in housefull shows across the Telugu states, but day 2 sustained due to positive word of mouth and good reviews from critics.
Trade tracker Sacnilk has reported that Kalki is expected to collect Rs 52 crore net from across India on its second day. This is a 45% drop from the Rs 95 crore it collected on its opening day but given that south event films see bigger falls even on weekends, it is a healthy number. What is promising is that the film’s shows in Hindi are increasing as more exhibitors demand more screens after the positive word of mouth.
The second day has also meant that Kalki has avoided the fate of Adipurush, another film on mythology starring Prabhas. The Om Raut film had released last year, earning Rs 127 crore on its opening day only to crash the following day and bundle out for under Rs 400 crore worldwide. Trade pundits are banking on a Rs 1000+ crore lifetime run for Kalki 2898 AD now.
Kalki 2898 AD is set in Kashi of the 29th century. The film calls it the last city on Earth where the Ganga river has also dried up. Prabhas plays a bounty hunter named Bhairava who is out to catch Sum-80 (Deepika), a pregnant woman believed to be carrying the prophesised Kalki avatar of Lord Vishnu. Protecting her is Ashwatthama (Amitabh Bachchan) while the forces of the evil tyrant Yaskin (Kamal Haasan) are also in pursuit.
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