Rajinikanth and director Shankar’s glitzy sci-fi big-budget entertainer 2.0, which released amidst much fanfare on Thursday, has swept theatres across south, with the film releasing in more than 10,000 screens across India. While the film obviously has its own fan-base in Tamil Nadu, especially after the massive success of its prequel Enthiran in 2010, in 2018 the sequel has seen a phenomenal opening in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
According to sources close to the film, 2.0 -Tamil and Telugu dubbed version- has taken to an extraordinary opening with close to 75 percent of theatres in both AP and Telangana screening the film. Film producer Dil Raju is the official distributor for the film in the Telugu states.
“The movie has released in 700 screens in both the Telugu states, and the tickets have been sold out 100% in all theatres. As per the latest trends, opening figures for 2.0 in AP and Telangana (both screens and collection) is much bigger than the number in Tamil Nadu on day one. Also, the advance booking of the movie in AP and Telangana is much bigger than other states,” Vamsi Kaka, public relations in charge for 2.0, told TNM.
Rajinikanth, who enjoys a massive fan-base across south, has time and again created magic with most of his movies being dubbed into almost all south Indian languages.
“People are coming to theatres not just banking on the success of Enthiran but also in anticipation of the magical combination of Rajinikanth and Shankar. Kabali had a similar effect in AP and Telangana but Kaala failed to recreate the magic. While there is no doubt that Rajinikanth is the biggest non-Telugu star in Tollywood, a part of 2.0’s success is also because of the Shankar-Rajini combo,” Vamsi says, adding, “No other Tamil stars come even near to the craze or business that a Rajinikanth movie manages to pull off.”
While Enthiran in 2010 managed to capture the same number of theatres in combined Andhra, the tax for dubbing films into Telugu was almost double at that time. Therefore, the collections could not catch up to the level of the film’s opening in Tamil Nadu.
Going as per figures on bookmyshow, Rajini fans may find it difficult to grab a ticket for 2.0 in Hyderabad as theatres are full not just over the weekend but until next Tuesday.
2.0 is bankrolled by A Subhaskaran under his banner Lyca Productions. It is the costliest Indian film to have ever been made, with a budget of over Rs 600 crore. Also starring Amy Jackson, Sudhanshu Pandey and Adil Hussain in pivotal roles, the film has music by AR Rahman. Touted to be among Asia’s costliest ventures, the film has been simultaneously released in Hindi and Telugu.