Baahubali 2 to Mersal: Box-office blockbusters from South in 2017
2017 has not been a great year for Tamil cinema in terms of box-office collection. Though many splendid movies came out and introduced new talents, producers and distributors incurred severe losses. We take a look at the blockbusters this year.
BAAHUBALI: THE CONCLUSION
It was definitely the high point of Indian cinema this year. The magnum opus by SS Rajamouli is a sequel to 2015's Baahubali: The Beginning. People thronged the theatres to finally know why Kattappa killed Baahubali, and boy were they satisfied! This Prabhas and Anushka Shetty-starrer is definitely the biggest hit of 2017 from down South.
MERSAL
After churning out an underwhelming film Bairavaa, Vijay compensated for it by giving a power-packed masala entertainer Mersal. Vijay had three roles in the film. Mersal left his fans and Tamil Nadu satisfied. But the controversy around the GST dialogues in the film catapulted the film to the league of an unmissable one, leading to the entire nation sitting up and taking notice of it. Directed by Atlee, Mersal minted Rs 250 crore and became the highest-grossing film of Vijay's career.
KHAIDI NO 150
Khaidi No 150, the comeback film of Chiranjeevi, marked the actor's return to the arclights after a break of nine years. The film minted about Rs 150 crore at the box office. Though it was a remake of Tamil star Vijay's Kaththi, fans couldn't care less. Directed by VV Vinayak, the film has Kajal Agarwal in the female lead.
VIKRAM VEDHA
The success of this film came at a time when the entire Tamil industry was grappling with the newly-implemented GST. Starring R Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi in the lead roles, Vikram Vedha tells the dark story of a cop and a don. The film earned a whopping amount of Rs 17 crore even in its opening weekend.
ARJUN REDDY
Though money-wise this Vijay Devarakonda-film is not in the league of the other films in the list, it deserves a mention since it received appreciation across borders. According to reports, Arjun Reddy has earned about Rs 50 crore, but it proved that quality films with not-so-big stars can also perform well at the box office in Tollywood.
Fidaa
Like Arjun Reddy, this sweet medium-budget love story, earned commendable profit at the box office, according to trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai. He says the film though didn't mint money as much as the other mega-budget film made in Tollywood this year, the profit margin of Fidaa was great and can be compared to the biggies. The film has Sai Pallavi and Varun Tej in the lead and was directed by Shekhar Kammula.