'Vikram': Kamal Haasan's comeback vehicle brings much-needed cheer for Tamil films

Apart from marking thespian Kamal Haasan's successful return to films after a four-year hiatus during which he started his own political party, the actor's newly-released Vikram's success also brings much-needed cheer to the Tamil film industry, which was conspicuous in its absence in the wave of south Indian films setting the cash registers ringing across India. 

The film, made on an approximate budget of Rs 150 crore, dubbed and released in Telugu and Hindi as well, has made worldwide gross collections of Rs 200 crore within a week of its release. Produced by Haasan's Raaj Kamal Films International, it already earned Rs 200 crore through pre-release sale of rights to OTT players, satellite TV channels, audio and dubbing rights.  

"The movie has made phenomenal collections for a Tamil film because it is basically a Tamil film and was never meant for Hindi audiences, unlike RRR, for example, which was marketed as an all-India film long before its release," says trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai, adding that while Vikram may be in the same legion as Telugu's Pushpa: The Rise - Part 1, RRR or Kannada's KGF: Chapter 2 in terms of perception, its box office collections are unlikely to match up. 

The actor-producer, however, promoted his film aggressively even making an appearance on 'The Kapil Sharma Show', a rarity for a Tamil actor. "He promoted it in places like Malaysia, UAE, Delhi and Bombay. But he didn't go to the interiors like Ahmedabad, Jaipur or Lucknow where RRR did good business," Pillai adds. 

The Tamil industry, unlike its Malayalam counterpart, is also known for commercial potboilers which have been touted as the formula behind Telugu superhits Pushpa: The Rise - Part 1 (late 2021), RRR (March 2022) and Kannada's KGF: Chapter 2 (April 2022) which have set the cash counters ringing in all five languages they were released in. Meanwhile, Tamil had releases by two big actors - Ajith's Valimai (February 2022) and Vijay's Beast (April 2022) - neither of which made a mark outside Tamil Nadu. 

In the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, too, only two Tamil films made it to consulting firm Ormax Media's Top 10 Films of 2020 & 2021 in terms of gross box office collection. Master (January 2021, also directed by Vikram's director Lokesh Kanagaraj) collected Rs 197 crore, while Rajinikanth-starrer Darbar (January 2020) collected Rs 182 crore.  

But four Telugu films made it to the list - Pushpa: The Rise - Part 1 (December 2021, Rs 304 crore), Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (January 2020, Rs 204 crore), Sarileru Neekevvaru (January 2020, Rs 156 crore) and Vakeel Saab (April 2021, Rs 131 crore).  

"In comparison with Telugu, recovery of Tamil box office was somewhat muted in 2021, which closed at 45% of the 2019 level, vis-à-vis the same proportion being 80% for Telugu," according to consulting agency Ormax Media's Box Office Report 2020-21. 

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