2.0, Rajinikanth's sequel to Enthiran, has finished its run at the box-office. And according to reports, the film has done better in the Hindi belt than in Tamil Nadu. This is quite surprising considering the popularity that Rajinikanth enjoys in Tamil Nadu.
The figures doing the rounds for the Hindi version are between Rs 186 and 244 crore, while the film is said to have earned between Rs 100 and 119 crore in Tamil Nadu. 2.0, however, did not make much of an impact in Kerala, where it reportedly earned less than Rs 20 crore. In Andhra and Telangana, the film has done well for a Tamil dubbed film but is still below average in performance at the box-office.
On the whole, considering its massive budget of Rs 543 crore, the film has had not made a large profit as was expected. Nevertheless, it's currently the second highest grossing south Indian film after Baahubali 2. Rajinikanth's two releases before 2.0, Kaala and Kabali both earned better in Tamil than Hindi, although Kaala was set in Mumbai. However, 2.0 had Akshay Kumar playing the antagonist, which was a big draw for the Hindi audience.
Petta, which is Rajinikanth's most recent release, also hit the screens in Hindi. But while the Tamil version did well, the Hindi one tanked. In Tamil Nadu, too, it faced stiff competition from Ajith's Viswasam, with the two films releasing on the same day for Pongal.
Directed by Shankar, 2.0 released on November 29 after several delays. The film was produced by Lyca Productions and also starred Amy Jackson. Aishwarya Rai had played the female lead in the first film. The sequel is about a bird-loving professor who becomes an avenging spirit when the birds drop dead, supposedly due to cellphone towers. Rajinikanth appeared in the dual roles of scientist Dr Vaseegaran as well as Chitti, the robot. There was also Kutti, a microbot created by Chitti, which was played by Rajinikanth too.