Kaala Fails To Join The 200 Crore Club At The Global Box Office

The Rs 200 Crore (approximately $US 30 mil) club is a special club I created five seconds ago, reserved for Tamil films that are mega-blockbusters (by Tamil cinema standards) — films that as the club’s name suggests, grossed Rs 200 Crore or more at the global box office. As of right now, there are seven movies in this prestigious club. The ranking is as follows:

Baahubali: The Conclusion – Rs 1,792 Cr ($US 270 mil)
Baahubali: The Beginning – Rs 650 Cr (97 mil)
Enthiran – Rs 290 Cr (93 mil)
Kabali – Rs 286 Cr (US mil) [tame estimate] – Rs 477 Cr (US mil) [high estimate]
Mersal – Rs 251 Cr (US$ 37 mil)
I – Rs 240 Cr (US$ 36 mil)
Vishwaroopam – Rs 108 Cr (US$ mil) [tame estimate] – Rs 220 Cr (US$ mil) [high estimate]

As of right now, nearing the end of its run, Kaala has made slightly more than Rs 159 Cr (US$ 23 million) with an estimated production budget of Rs 80 Cr (US$ 11 million). While the film will most likely continue to run in South India in the coming weeks, it is doubtful that the movie will make another Rs 41 Cr (US$ 5 mil). But if it manages to cross that line, Rajinikanth would be the only South Indian actor with three movies in the Rs 200 Cr club. Prabas has two movies (both the Baahubalis), Rajinikanth has two (Enthiran and Kabali), while Vijay (Mersal), Vikram (I) and Kamal Hassan (Vishwaroopam) have one each. Nevertheless, with Kaala‘s Rs 159 Cr Rajini is the only South Indian actor with three movies that have grossed Rs 150 Cr.

Despite being a hit, Kaala has made less money than many would’ve hoped, especially considering its budget. Consider Vijay’s film, Theri, which has an estimated production budget of Rs 68 Cr and managed to gross Rs 158 Cr. Or Kabali, which had a Rs 113 Cr production budget and raked in Rs 286 Cr (US$ 44 mil) — and that’s the tame estimate, btw — with a Rs 113 Cr budget (US$ 16 mil).

As far as the Rs 200 Cr club is concerned, the top spot was held by Superstar Rajinikanth’s Sci-fi masala, Enthiran, directed by Shankar for a good five years. That is until 2015 when S.S Rajamouli treated the world to Baahubali: The Beginning. This movie made waves not just in India but globally too. But its the sequel, Baahubali: The Conclusion, that made unfathomable strides in terms of Tamil movies at the box office. At US$ 270 million, Baahubali: The Conclusion was the 39th highest grossing film worldwide in 2017, regardless of language. It was also one of the five Asians films that broke into the Top 50 that year. The other four being Wolf Warrior 2 (China), Your Name (Japan), Kung-Fu Yoga (Taiwan) and Journey to the West: The Demon Strikes Back (China).