Poor reviews hit Srikanth Odela's action thriller hard on its opening Saturday, but two days in, it has already outrun Hi Nanna to become one of Nani's best openers.
The number everyone's arguing about is 57. That's the percentage drop The Paradise took on its second day, sliding from a opening-day haul of Rs 34.65 crore net (minus premieres) to Rs 14.9 crore on Saturday, according to Koimoi's box office tracking.
And yet the film is still sitting pretty in Nani's own record book. Two days in, The Paradise has collected Rs 61.15 crore net at the Indian box office, which works out to roughly Rs 72.16 crore gross. That's enough to push it past Hi Nanna's lifetime total of Rs 49.22 crore, making it the fifth highest-grossing film of Nani's career in just 48 hours. It's still short of Saripodhaa Sanivaaram, which sits at Rs 63.21 crore, but the gap is thin.
So why the steep fall on day two? Reviews haven't been kind, and word of mouth from early shows appears to have been lukewarm at best. Koimoi's report points to unfavourable public feedback as the direct cause of the drop, even with a partial holiday across the Telugu states cushioning the blow on Saturday. Without that holiday bump, trade watchers reckon the fall could have looked even steeper.
What happens on the extended weekend
The Paradise released with an unusual four-day opening stretch rather than the standard three, which gives it extra room to recover ground before the real test of weekday collections kicks in. If it holds a reasonably steady pace through the rest of the extended weekend, Koimoi's projections suggest it should comfortably cross the Rs 100 crore net mark in India by the time the stretch ends.
That's still a big number for a film carrying heavy production costs, and the budget is precisely why a 57% single-day drop counts as an alarm bell rather than a footnote. High-cost action thrillers need consistency across the opening week to justify their spend, not just a strong first day followed by a scramble.
Directed by Srikanth Odela and bankrolled by Sudhakar Cherukuri and Ishan Saksena under Sri Lakshmi Venkateshwara Cinemas and IVY Entertainment, The Paradise leans on Nani in the lead alongside Mohan Babu, Kayadu Lohar, Sonali Kulkarni and Raghav Juyal. The film has also been building a parallel story overseas, having reportedly entered the top ten Tollywood premieres of all time in North America and ranked 14th among the biggest opening days there, per earlier Koimoi tracking.
The real question now is what Sunday looks like. A second big drop would suggest the negative buzz is hardening into a trend rather than a one-day dip. A smaller fall, or even a small bump given the weekend crowd, would suggest the film can still find its footing before Monday's numbers put it to the harshest test of all: a working day, no holiday cushion, and reviews that have already made up most people's minds.
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