Karthik Subbaraj's queer drama starring Keerthy Suresh, Sananth and Rishikanth has flatlined at Rs 85 lakh a day since Monday, with a viral climax kiss taking the blame.
Five days in, and Dorothy is stuck at Rs 5.25 crore net, Rs 6.15 crore gross, according to Sacnilk data reported by Filmibeat Tamil. That's not a number a Karthik Subbaraj film is supposed to be doing.
The opening day brought in close to Rs 90 lakh. The weekend nudged things up to roughly Rs 1 crore a day. Then Monday and Tuesday both landed at Rs 85 lakh, flat as a pancake, which tells you the film never really built momentum after its first Saturday.
Compare that to Hiphop Tamizha Adhi's Meesaya Murukku 2, released the same week, which has actually clicked with audiences. Dorothy, by most trade accounts, has not.
What's dragging the numbers down
The film carries an A certificate and centres on a same-sex relationship, with Sananth and Rishikanth playing the leads. Its climax includes a lip-lock between the two actors, and that clip is what set off the internet once it started circulating outside the theatre. For Rishikanth, it's being talked about as his first onscreen kiss with a man, and the reaction online has been loud enough to shape how people are deciding whether to buy a ticket at all. Some viewers, per social media chatter, have decided the film has more explicit content than they bargained for and are staying home rather than risk it.
The trailer didn't help matters either. It opens on two boys apparently watching adult content, with dialogue about wanting to kiss someone regardless of gender, and that set the tone for a debate that has followed the film ever since release, well before anyone had actually seen the full cut.
There's a separate grievance doing the rounds too. Keerthy Suresh's role in Dorothy was always billed as a cameo, not a lead. A chunk of the audience apparently walked in expecting her to be the film's heroine and came out annoyed that she wasn't, which hasn't done the word of mouth any favours.
Screens run out tomorrow
A fresh batch of releases lands from Wednesday, and trade watchers expect Dorothy to lose theatres fast once that happens. A film averaging Rs 85 lakh a day on a decent screen count is not the kind of business that protects its shows once new titles start demanding space.
What happens next depends on whether word of mouth turns, or whether the online argument around the film keeps overshadowing the film itself. Right now, the numbers say the argument is winning.
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