Superstar Rajinikanth is the lone Tamil star to have films which have done business over Rs. 200 crore at the box-office. Vijay could join the list with Mersal, which has already zoomed past Rs. 150 crore in gross earnings worldwide and might comfortably even breach into the Rs. 200 crore club, making it the first film in Vijay's career to do so.
Having taken a terrific opening, thanks to the Deepavali weekend and all the controversies surrounding the film, this Atlee-directed action-drama set the cash registers on fire by grossing over Rs. 100 crore in just three days since its release.
In several international key areas such as Malaysia, Dubai and the US, the film has already surpassed the lifetime earnings of Theri, the last outing in the combination of Vijay and Atlee. Having been made on a whopping budget of Rs. 130 crore, the film still has a long way to go to break even. In the film, Vijay plays triple roles and he was seen as a village head, a doctor and a magician.
Vijay’s role as the village head won over audiences and critics alike and in the case of the former, it made a strong impact. The magician’s role was also well received and it is believed that Vijay religiously learnt all the magic tricks under expert supervision.
The film also stars Kajal Aggarwal, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Nithya Menen and SJ Suryah in important roles. Produced by Sri Thenandal Studios, the film has been dubbed in Telugu as Adhirindi and it is slated to release this week in Andhra and Telangana. The film has music by A.R Rahman whose work earned lukewarm response and some even went on to say that it was his weakest album in recent times.