Baththa’s second weekend is shaping up to be the one that matters. After a quiet opening on October 1, Vijay Sethupathi’s Tamil drama has quietly built momentum — and now, it’s gaining screens faster than it did in its first week. On Friday, the film pulled in 1.6 crore net across 1,591 shows, edging past its opening-day haul of 1.5 crore. That’s not just a win for word-of-mouth. It’s a signal that audiences are staying engaged, even without a blockbuster rollout. The film’s India-wide net total now stands at 17.06 crore (20.13 crore gross), and with more screens being added daily, it’s closing in on a milestone: surpassing Vijay Sethupathi’s own Merry Christmas (2024), which earned 20.23 crore net in India. Just over 3 crore left. At this pace, Sunday could see the record fall. The film, set in 1986 Madras, follows a feared gangster trapped in a school restroom by a shy boy, a premise that sounds simple, but has resonated deeply. With an IMDb rating of 8.4 and growing buzz, it’s proving that emotional storytelling still holds weight at the box office. Whether it can keep the momentum through the weekend remains to be seen. But one thing’s clear: the quietest films sometimes make the loudest returns.