The latest Prabhas-starrer, the horror comedy The Raja Saab, has wrapped its opening weekend with a significant dip in its domestic collections, despite crossing a major global milestone. The film, directed by Maruthi, has garnered largely negative reviews, which appear to be impacting its performance at the Indian box office.
A Declining Domestic Trend
On its third day, Sunday, The Raja Saab witnessed a drastic fall, collecting a reported figure that was a sharp decline from its Saturday earnings of Rs 26 crore. This Saturday collection itself represented a more than 51% drop from the film's robust opening day figure of Rs 53.75 crore across five Indian languages. Including the Rs 9.15 crore from paid previews for the Telugu version, the film's total domestic opening weekend collection stands at a figure just crossing the Rs 100 crore mark in India.
The bulk of this domestic revenue came from its native Telugu version, which contributed over Rs 90 crore. The dubbed Hindi version followed with approximately Rs 6 crore, trailed by the Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam versions. While crossing Rs 100 crore in an opening weekend is a notable achievement for most films, for Prabhas, this represents his lowest domestic opener in four years, since the 2022 film Radhe Shyam.
Prabhas's Opening Weekend Record in Perspective
The modest opening of The Raja Saab stands in stark contrast to Prabhas's recent blockbuster performances. His last release, Kalki 2898 AD (2024), amassed nearly as much on its opening day as The Raja Saab managed in its entire opening weekend, with a three-day total exceeding Rs 220 crore domestically.
Similarly, Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire (2023) collected over Rs 200 crore, and even the critically panned Adipurush (2023) opened to over Rs 215 crore in its first three days. Prabhas's highest opening weekend grosser remains the monumental Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017), which set a towering record of Rs 304 crore across languages in India.
A Silver Lining: A Global Record
Despite the domestic slowdown, the film achieved a significant global feat. The Raja Saab opened at a massive Rs 112 crore worldwide on its first day, allowing it to cross the Rs 100 crore global mark instantly. This accomplishment has cemented Prabhas's unique position in Indian cinema, making him the only Indian actor to score six films with worldwide openers above Rs 100 crore.
However, within this elite list, The Raja Saab finds itself at the bottom. The top five positions are held by Adipurush (Rs 127.50 crore), Saaho (Rs 130 crore), Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire (Rs 158.10 crore), Kalki 2898 AD (Rs 177.70 crore), and the leader, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (Rs 214 crore).
As of the latest update, the film's total global earnings stand at Rs 138.4 crore gross, with day 3 showing a 22.62 per cent drop. The coming weekdays will be crucial in determining whether the film can stabilize its collections or if the negative word-of-mouth will lead to a steeper decline.
