'The Raja Saab' box office collection day 1: Marred by mixed reviews, Prabhas' film off to a poor start in India

Prabhas-led fantasy horror comedy The Raja Saab, which hit theatres on Friday, has been hit by mixed reviews at the box office. The film's preview shows have contributed a sizeable share to its opening day earnings. 

The Raja Saab earned a total of ₹9.15 crore from its preview shows and ₹54.15 crore on its opening day. With this, the film's total India box office collection stacked up at ₹63.3 crore, as per film trade portal Sacnilk. 

Of this, the film's Telugu version made ₹56.55 crore, and its Hindi version raked in ₹6.15 crore, respectively. Its Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam versions made ₹0.4 crore, ₹0.1 crore, and ₹0.1 crore, respectively. 

The Raja Saab's Telugu shows had an overall occupancy of 57.16 per cent, whereas its Hindi shows logged an overall occupancy of 15.63 per cent. The film's Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam shows recorded an overall occupancy of 22.61 per cent, 15.53 per cent, and 11.62 per cent, respectively.

The film's first-day collections are much lower than the Telugu star's previous releases. Baahubali 2 made around ₹121 crore, and Kalki 2898 AD made ₹95.3 crore on its day one at the domestic box office.

Saaho made a total of ₹89 crore on its opening day, whereas Salaar: Cease Fire - Part 1 minted ₹90.7 crore. 

The Raja Saab opened to mixed reviews on Friday. "The Raja Saab wastes its Rs 400 crore budget on a muddled screenplay that jumps aimlessly between genres and locations. Despite Prabhas's sporadic comic timing, the film lacks depth, cohesion and basic storytelling craft. What could have been an engaging horror comedy becomes a tacky, unfunny three-hour ordeal that disrespects both audience intelligence and cinema," India Today said in its review of the film. 

Directed by Maruthi, The Raja Saab focuses on a laidback, clumsy person who cruises through life to eventually embrace his royal heritage as well as his rebellious spirit. Apart from Prabhas, the film features Niddhi Agerwal, Sanjay Dutt, Boman Irani, Brahmanandam, Malavika Mohanan, Riddhi Kumar, and Yogi Babu in pivotal roles. 

The Raja Saab hit theatres worldwide on January 9 in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam.