Kanguva, the highly anticipated film starring Suriya, had an underwhelming opening at the box office, grossing approximately ₹26 crore on its first day across India. While this marks Suriya’s career-best opening day numbers, surpassing the ₹16.75 crore record set by Anjaan in 2014, it falls short of expectations for a big-budget film, which many anticipated would achieve at least ₹35 crore.
In Tamil Nadu, Kanguva collected around ₹10 crore, potentially ranking as the highest or second-highest first-day figure for Suriya since NGK in 2019. However, due to last-minute negotiations with exhibitors, the film faced challenges with advance bookings, leading to a reliance on walk-in audiences, which did not materialize as expected.
Here’s the territorial breakdown for Kanguva’s first-day box office collections:
| Area | Gross |
|---|---|
| Tamil Nadu | ₹10.00 cr. |
| Andhra Pradesh/Telangana | ₹5.50 cr. |
| Karnataka | ₹2.25 cr. |
| Kerala | ₹3.75 cr. |
| Rest of India | ₹4.50 cr. |
| Total (India) | ₹26.00 cr. |
Including 3D charges, the film’s total gross in Tamil Nadu rises to ₹11.25 crore, while the nationwide collection reaches ₹29 crore.
While the Hindi version of Kanguva achieved the highest first-day numbers for a Kollywood film in the past five years, the overall performance has raised concerns. Audience reception has been mixed to negative, which often spells trouble for a film’s longevity at the box office.
Suriya has faced challenges in recent years, with his last successful theatrical release being Singam 2 in 2013. Despite the high expectations surrounding Kanguva, the film’s lackluster opening suggests that Suriya’s comeback may take longer than anticipated, potentially adding Kanguva to the list of underperformers in his filmography.
As the box office numbers continue to unfold, all eyes will be on Kanguva to see if it can recover from this rocky start and gain traction in the coming weeks.
