The Srikanth Odela film pulled a Rs 27.5 crore share from the Nizam region alone over its extended opening weekend, even as reviews split down the middle.
Nani has a new career-best on his hands, whatever the reviews say. The Paradise closed its first extended weekend with a Rs 27.5 crore share in the Nizam region, a number that trade watchers are calling stronger than the talk around the film deserved.
Sunday, the last day of that extended run, added Rs 4.7 crore share in Nizam alone, excluding GST. That's a decent hold for a film that's been getting a mixed-to-negative response since release. Audiences, it seems, showed up anyway.
Zoom out and the numbers get bigger. Worldwide, The Paradise has crossed Rs 136 crore gross in just three days. In North America, the film has pushed past the $2 million mark, a healthy overseas number for a Telugu release that isn't leaning on a franchise name or a sequel tag. Put it together and this is now Nani's highest-grossing film, full stop.
That's the part that should worry the naysayers. A film can open big on hype and still collapse once the reviews catch up with the box office. The Paradise hasn't collapsed yet. Whether that's the star pull of Nani, the presence of Mohan Babu in a meaty role, or plain curiosity about a director attempting something this scale, the trade will be picking that apart for weeks.
Srikanth Odela directs, and the film is mounted big by SLV Cinemas, with Sonali Kulkarni, Raghav Juyal and Kayadu Lohar filling out the principal cast alongside Mohan Babu. The scale shows up on screen, by most accounts, even where the writing hasn't landed for everyone.
But weekend numbers are the easy part. Every big Telugu opener manages a good Friday-to-Sunday if the promotions have worked, and The Paradise clearly had promotions working overtime. The real story starts today, Monday, when the extended weekend discount disappears and the film has to stand on word of mouth alone.
Nizam is the market everyone in the trade will be watching first, since it's delivered the bulk of the domestic share so far. If the Monday and Tuesday numbers hold anywhere close to the weekend pace, distributors will call this a hit regardless of what critics wrote. If they fall off a cliff, the Rs 136 crore global figure becomes a footnote about a film that peaked on day three.
Either way, Nani has his biggest number ever attached to his name. What happens to it from here depends entirely on whether Hyderabad keeps buying tickets once the buzz runs out.
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