God Proves Bigger Than Superstars at the Box Office

Two new pan India films may have arrived recently, but the belief that Mahavatar Narasimha, which has already completed twenty days, would quietly end its run has completely proven wrong. With the long weekend in play, this animated spectacle is roaring back with full force.

The negative talk surrounding War 2 and the mixed response for Coolie are giving Narasimha another opportunity to shine. In Andhra Pradesh, the increased ticket prices for Tarak and Rajini’s films are actually working in Mahavatar’s favor. In Telangana, although the film has lost some screens, the ones still showing it are running housefull shows and posting sold out notices well in advance.

On BookMyShow alone, the movie is still selling an average of ten thousand to fifteen thousand tickets every hour. This clearly shows that there is still a huge audience yet to watch it. Having already crossed two hundred crore gross, Mahavatar Narasimha seems all set to easily cross another one hundred crore. Family audiences are picking this film over War 2 and Coolie, completely changing the box office scene.

Trade reports indicate that in many centers, the number of shows for Narasimha is actually increasing on Saturdays and Sundays. Exhibitors are even reducing shows for new releases to meet the demand for Narasimha. This is something that has not been seen in recent times.

If the film gains further momentum, there will be no stopping Mahavatar Narasimha until the end of the month. With no major releases coming in between and talk that Ravi Teja’s Mass Jathara, which was supposed to release on August 27, might be postponed, this could further help Narasimha.

The response to the film has been so strong that one production house, which had earlier planned a fantasy film with a star hero, is now considering dropping that plan and making a fully animated feature instead. That is the scale at which Narasimha is dominating, and there are no signs of it slowing down any time soon.