Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and actor Thalapathy Vijay’s final film, Jana Nayagan, has registered a strong opening at the global box office despite receiving mixed reviews from critics.
Combined, on its opening day the film grossed over Rs 78.27 crore globally, according to the industry trackers, followed by domestic collections of Rs 48.27 crore and overseas collections of Rs 30 crore.
The Tamil-language movie also got an impressive 68.31% overall theatre occupancy on Thursday. The highest footfalls were seen in morning shows which represented 73.85% occupancy, with night shows following at 73.31%. Afternoon and evening shows registered occupancies of 62.46% and 63.62%, respectively.
Jana Nayagan with its opening day’s collections has outperformed the net value of Vijay’s previous sucesses like Leo (Rs 75.53 crore worldwide) and The Greatest of All Time (Rs 51.39 crore worldwide).
Released on the back of a reported production cost of exceeding Rs 300 crore, the film has created enormous hype, as Vijay has become all politics since his victory in Tamil Nadu’s last local government elections.
Vijay’s screen image and mass moments have been well appreciated by the audiences, but not so with the critics. Despite his performances, his scenes with the antagonist Bobby Deol’s were praised by some but other parts were felt to lag in pacing and execution.
With mixed reactions, the film’s promising opening suggests that even Vijay’s big fan base is helping him see solid box office returns.