Despite a lukewarm reception from audiences and critics, Vijay Deverakonda’s debut film, Liger, has had a tremendous start at the box office in the Hindi–speaking regions. It is estimated that it earned between Rs. 4 to 4.70 crores on its opening day and with an additional 1.30 crore coming from paid previews the day prior, it has collected over Rs. 5.50 crores so far – a huge accomplishment for a debutante actor–starrer movie!
A Thursday launch could have improved the picture’s imperviousness to criticism with a debut of approximately Rs. 7 crores. The mass belts came on board heavily, level with the July release Ek Villain Returns, and this is an upbeat indication. Liger’s first day showing conclusively demonstrates the strength of popular cinema, and a skillfully crafted film in this realm can accomplish phenomenal success at the box office.
All eyes are now trained on the weekend performance of Liger, the latest Vijay Deverakonda starrer. Though there has been some less–than–favourable pre–release buzz about it, its prospects for success hinge largely on genre expectations and enthusiasm to see Vijay in action on the silver screen. Friday is likely to be a very lucrative day for it, but we must not forget that this is an era of surprises; thus, only time will tell how well Liger performs in Hindi speaking territories over the next few days. If Liger manages to gross Rs 35 crore or more during its theatrical run, it can still be considered a moderate success.
The box office opening of Liger, Vijay Deverakonda’s Telugu debut in the Hindi market, is better than Allu Arjun’s Pushpa: The Rise. It’s the second-best start for a debutant after Jr. NTR’s RRR and even made 1 crore more on its first day, indicating that fans were keen to watch Vijay in action. From here on out it will depend entirely on word of mouth from the audience.
