Southern film industry sees pick up with Telugu film ‘A1 Express’ - Mint

NEW DELHI: Telugu sports drama A1 Express, released last Friday, grossed around Rs5 crore in its opening weekend, and is on its way to break even, according to trade website andhraboxoffice.com. The movie builds on the success of Telugu film Uppena which had indicated the start of recovery led by movies from down south with the reopening of cinemas.

Directed by Dennis Jeevan Kanukolanu, A1 Express features Sundeep Kishan and Lavanya Tripathi in lead roles. A remake of the Tamil film Natpe Thunai (2019), it deals with issues of corruption and nepotism in sports.

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The ailing domestic film exhibition business has been reaping benefits of south Indian movies since earlier this year. The Pongal weekend had brought cheer for the movie box office with Tamil superstar Vijay’s film Master notching up Rs100 crore in an extended weekend. The actor’s home territory, Tamil Nadu led the way with opening day earnings of Rs20.50 crore. In fact, Master’s Rs35 crore first-day collections were the seventh highest ever for a film made in the south Indian language after Baahubali - The Conclusion, Saaho, 2.0, Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, Kabali and Baahubali - The Beginning.

“The results are extraordinary considering the pandemic and it shows that mass crowds are ready to come to theatres when there is something that appeals to them. The Tamil and Telugu markets are leading the way, they may not be performing to their optimum but films can be released (there) without the fear of not getting an audience," Box Office India had said in a blog on the opening of Master.

The other big Pongal release, Ravi Teja’s Telugu language film Krack, had also opened well, earning around Rs12.5 crore worldwide on its first day, making it the actor’s biggest opener so far. Several theatre owners in north India demanded that the film be dubbed in Hindi, to have some additional content available for showcasing.

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