After an impressive 18-day run, Prashanth Neel’s Salaar, touted as one of the highest-grossing South Indian films, is gradually exiting cinema halls as it faces a decline in box office collections. Industry tracker Sacnilk reports a notable drop, with the film earning Rs 2.25 crore on Monday following a Sunday collection of Rs 6.05 crore.
The Prabhas and Prithviraj Sukumaran-starrer has secured a spot in India’s top 10 highest-earning films with a nett domestic box office collection of Rs 395.5 crore. It surpasses James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water (Rs 391.4 cr) and Aamir Khan’s Dangal (Rs 387.38 cr). However, overtaking Rajinikanth’s 2.0, which earned Rs 407 crore in 2018, might prove challenging due to upcoming Sankranti releases. Globally, Salaar has earned Rs 687.51 crore, surpassing Sunny Deol’s Gadar 2, which earned Rs 686 crore worldwide.
Key Sankranti releases, including Mahesh Babu’s Guntur Kaaram, Venkatesh’s Saindhav, Prashanth Varma’s HanuMan, and Ravi Teja’s Eagle, present stiff competition.
Monday’s occupancy figures reveal Salaar’s peak in the Telugu-speaking region (16.11%), followed by Tamil (16.10%) and Hindi (11.89%). While the film’s first-week collection reached a staggering Rs 308 crore, it declined to Rs 70.1 crore in the second week. The third week contributed Rs 17.4 crore, signaling a front-loaded interest in Salaar.
Amid the box office slowdown, the cast and crew celebrated the film’s success with a small gathering attended by Hombale Films founders Vijay Kiragandur and Chaluve Gowda, director Prashanth Neel, and lead actors Prabhas and Prithviraj. Social media buzzed with pictures from the event captioned, “The blockbuster success calls for a BLOCKBUSTER CELEBRATION! 💥”