Ahead of its release, the film scored a high rating of 8.7/10 on Chinese movie review site Douban and is regarded as ‘one of the highest-rated Indian films in recent years’.
Beijing: Tamil movie Maharaja, the first Indian film to be released in China after the last month’s accord to normalise ties between the two countries, ending the standoff in eastern Ladakh, has earned around Rs 16 crore on the first day of its release on Friday.
According to cinema ticket sales portal Maoyan, the Vijay Sethupathi-starrer collected around RMB 13.37 million (Rs 15.6 crore) at the box office in China.
Ahead of its release, the film scored a high rating of 8.7/10 on Chinese movie review site Douban and is regarded as “one of the highest-rated Indian films in recent years”.
The suspense thriller, which is competing with Hollywood blockbuster Gladiator II and China’s Her Story, has scored a high rating of 8.7/10 on Chinese movie review site Douban and is being regarded as “one of the highest-rated Indian films in recent years”. The movie has also been ranked at no. 5 in the ‘Daily Box Office’ column of ENT group, a box office tracker.
Maharaja is the first Indian film to be screened in Chinese theatres after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping decided to normalise their ties following their meeting in Kazan, Russia on October 23. Bilateral relationship between India and China suffered a serious setback after border clashes in the Galwan valley in 2020.
Directed by Nithilan Saminathan and made with a moderate budget of Rs 20 crore, Maharaja was a box office success in India, where the movie’s release in June set the highest opening collection for the weekend after it hit Indian screens on June 14, earning over Rs 100 crore at home.
Vijay Sethupathi is one of Tamil cinema’s popular actors and made his debut in Hindi last year. He is also likely to star in the biopic of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Movie trackers in China say the day 2 collections have also shown an upward trend which will help the movie’s total collection cross the Rs 100 crore club.
Earlier, leading Indian film tracker Ramesh Bala had posted on his X page that Maharaja had debuted at No. 5 in China on Day One. “It grossed USD 540K and opened with 32,621 shows. With preview, the total gross is USD 1.18 Million [Rs 10 crores]. Strong weekend ahead,” he wrote.