Mega Matka Faces Terrible Openings!

Mega hero Varun Tej’s long wait for the much needed success which has been evading him from the last few years seems to be not ending even with his latest release Matka, a period drama which hit the screens on Thursday. Despite Varun’s strong promotional campaign and impressive content in the teasers and the trailer, Matka took a shockingly low opening which is lesser than his previous outing Operation Valentine.

As per trade reports, Matka secured a terrible opening on the first day with a theatrical share of less than one Crore including all territories. This is quite shocking and unexpected because of the decent buzz on the film prior to its release. Usually, Mega heroes films garner minimum openings irrespective of the combination. Unfortunately, Matka failed even to register decent occupancies on the first day in major locations which is a major concern for Varun Tej.

Made on a solid budget by director Karuna Kumar, Matka secured below par reviews and poor word of mouth on the first day because of formulaic narration and flat screenplay. Director failed in all aspects to transform the life story of a notorious gambler into an absorbing cinematic experience and disappointed the viewers.

Even though there is a stiff competition from Suriya’s Kanguva, Matka is expected to rake in decent numbers because of Varun Tej’s craze in Telugu stares. But, the numbers are extremely awful in all locations and it is very disappointing that the footfalls are less than recent releases like Lucky Bhaskar and Amaran in some territories.

After scoring two outright disasters with Gandeevadhari Arjuna and Operation Valentine, Varun Tej aimed for a strong comeback with Matka. But, the chances look very slender. It is high time Varun Tej changes his strategy and chooses better scripts to end his flop streak. He will next team up with talented director Merlapaka Gandhi.