In an unexpected twist, Pranav Mohanlal’s chilling horror flick ‘Dies Irae’ has outshined Ayushmann Khurrana’s latest release ‘Thamma’ at the box office this past Tuesday, grossing ₹2.5 crore compared to ‘Thamma’s ₹2 crore. This triumph underscores the rising fascination with high-quality horror cinema in India, even within a niche audience.
Pranav Mohanlal’s Dies Irae directed by Rahul Sadasivan has emerged as the biggest film at the box office this Tuesday, surpassing Ayushmann Khurrana’s Thamma in a closely watched weekday showdown. While Thamma collected a steady Rs 2 crore on Tuesday, Dies Irae surprised trade trackers by minting Rs 2.5 crore, an impressive figure considering the Malayalam film’s inherently limited market reach and the niche nature of the horror genre.The total collection of the film now stands at Rs 22 crore. Horror as a category has traditionally been regarded as a narrower draw in Indian cinema but over the past some time well made horror films have set box office on fire – case in point being Ajay Devgn’s s Shaitaan and Janki Bodiwala’s Vash Level 2. Dies Irae by Rahul Sadasivan is part of a trilogy with the first two films being Bhoothakaalam and Bramayugam. Bhoothakaalam was headlined by Shane Nigam and Revathi while Bramyugam was with Mammootty for which he recently won the Best Actor Award at Kerala State Film Award. Meanwhile, Ayushmann Khurrana’s Thamma continues to hold well with Rs 2 crore collection on Tuesday. The film, which benefits from wider Hindi market penetration and Ayushmann’s established connection with urban centers, has displayed stability through the weekdays. But what makes Dies Irae’s climb noteworthy is that it is competing without the same promotional scale, star exposure across regions, or language reach. Among other films, Harshvardhan Rane’s EK Deewane Ki Deewaniyat collected Rs 1.65 crore on Tuesday, Rishab Shetty’s Kantara: A Legend Chapter 1 brought in Rs 1.42 crore and Ravi Teja’s Mass Jathara earned just Rs 84 lakh.Pranav Mohanlal is expected to be next seen in his father Mohanlal and Prithviraj’s L 3- the third instalment of Lucifer series. He would be playing the younger version of Stephen Nedumpally- Khureshi-Ab’raam. His announcement of being part of the film came as a post credit scene of the second part.
