‘Baahubali: The Epic’ starring Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty and Tamannaah Bhatia, hit theatres on 31 October. This film combines both earlier parts of the saga into one grand presentation. It has crossed about Rs 25 crore in India in five days, despite seeing a sharp drop after the weekend. On its opening day (paid previews) it made around Rs 1.15 crore, then Rs 9.65 crore on Friday, Rs 7.25 crore on Saturday and Rs 6.30 crore on Sunday. Monday saw a steep fall to about Rs 1.65 crore, and on Tuesday (day 5) the collection was approximately Rs 1.95 crore. On Wednesday, day 6, the film made Rs 1.50 crore. The total collection of the film in India according to Sacnilk is Rs 29.65 crore.
Beyond the domestic numbers, the version was released to mark the franchise’s 10th anniversary and featured remastered visuals and sound. According to trade trackers, it has already become one of the highest-grossing re-released Indian films and was heading toward a domestic total nearing Rs 30 crore in its first week.While the numbers are impressive for a re-release, some analysts attribute the sharp weekday drop partly to audience fatigue (having seen the story previously) and to its long runtime, the cut reportedly clocks around 225 minutes. Thus, on Wednesday, other releases like ‘Thamma’ and ‘Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat’ had an edge over the Prabhas starrer. Of course, ‘Baahubali’ and its sequel have changed the game of Indian cinema and remain one of the highest grossing Indian movies of all time, at the domestic box office and worldwide. So, the audience has already seen both the parts of the franchise. Thus, this new version which is four hours long and edited, with not many scenes of both the parts included, may not have interested the audience much. Yet, this is a great number in the span of 6 days.
