This Dussehra season has brought forth three major films for the audience to watch in theaters. However, none of them has garnered unanimous praise; all three are grappling with mixed reviews and an average to below-average reception.
According to Tollywood sources, Balakrishna has an edge over his rival Ravi Teja. Since ‘Bhagavanath Kesari’ clocked Rs 20 odd crores in two days, while ‘Tiger Nageswara Rao’ managed to draw just Rs 8 crores on the first day and both films have to go a long way to recover their Rs 70-odd crores investments in the two Telugu states.
Bhagawant Kesari: "Bhagawant Kesari," featuring Balakrishna, Kajal, and Sreeleela, had a promising opening.
However, on the second day, it suffered a steep decline of over 60%. Moving to the weekend, the India-NZ World Cup cricket match on Sunday is expected to impact the film's box office collections, as three shows will coincide with the match timings.
With only two more days of the holiday season remaining, the film needs to generate a substantial sum to break even.
The success of the film depends largely on the support it receives from the festival audience.
Leo: Next up is Vijay's "Leo." Regrettably, the film is being treated as a dubbed film by the festival audience, leading to a lack of interest in watching it.
Furthermore, the excessive crime elements in the film have dissuaded the family audience from attending screenings.
Despite performing decently in certain areas, the overall response for the Telugu version is not encouraging.
The film also faces the challenge of the World Cup cricket match scheduled for tomorrow, which happens to be a Sunday.
Tiger Nageswara Rao: The third film, "Tiger Nageswara Rao," was declared a disaster right from the first day, with the collections plummeting drastically.
Notably, the film's opening was also underwhelming.
Coupled with the unfavorable reception, it's no surprise that "Tiger Nageswara Rao" is the least favored film of this festive season.
All three films face the daunting task of earning significant revenue to break even, which appears to be a formidable challenge within the limited time and considering the prevalent negative word of mouth.
The audience seems unforgiving towards any film with unfavorable reviews, regardless of the festive season.