‘Ponniyin Selvan I’, ‘Vikram Vedha’

Mani Ratnam’s latest outing Ponniyin Selvan I has grossed nearly $40 million worldwide in one week of the theatrical release. Starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vikram, Karthi in the lead roles, the film crossed the $5 million-mark in the US markets and became the second Tamil film to do so, after Shankar’s 2.O. Ponniyin Selvan: I has grossed more than $24 million in India alone.

Ponniyin Selvan I earned $8.705 million worldwide in its first weekend, and made it to the seventh slot on ComscoreSCOR
highest global earnings over the weekend ending October 2. The film released across the globe on September 30 in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada languages.

After a grand opening on September 30 and an equally good weekend, the film saw a major dip but managed to maintain enough collections and reached the commendable score. It grossed $ 9 million on the first day and $ 7.2 were the second day gross collections. The film saw major dip on Monday when it grossed $3 million worldwide.

The film traces the story of a prince from the Indian kingdom of Cholas from the yesteryears. While the movie depicts an enchanting picture of the yesteryear Indian kingdom, the most beautiful part is the way it treats the women characters.

The film is based on Tamil author Kalki Krishnamurthy’s books by the same name and treats the genders in a way that is similar how the book treats their equations. The main twists of the film’s plot are mostly triggered by the women. Aishwarya Lekshmi as Poonguzhali ( a sailor woman, literally the princess of the ocean), especially remarkable and arguably one of the best characters. Her agency and fearlessness despite the presence of the crown-prince is commendable. A second installment of Ponniyin Selvan is likely to be released in 2023.

Meanwhile, the Hindi remake of Vikram Vedha also hit theatres on the same day as Ponniyin Selvan: I did. However, the Hrithik Roshan-Saif Ali Khan could not create magic at the ticket windows, as the original did, and wrapped up the first week just a little above $12 million worldwide.