Raghava Lawarence's latest outing "Ganga" has opened to fantastic response and turned out be the highest grosser at the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (AP/T) Box Office last weekend. It has beaten other new releases such as Kamal Haasan's "Uttama Villain" and Srikanth's "Dhee Ante Dhee".
"Ganga" is the Telugu version of "Kanchana 2", which is the third installment in the "Muni" franchise. The two previous installments were released in Telugu and were big hits at Tollywood box office. The promos of the third movie in the "Muni" series had created lot of curiosity among viewers. It was expected to hit screens with its Tamil version, but the release was deferred due to financial problems.
Two weeks after the release of "Kanchana 2", "Ganga" was released in around 550 cinema halls in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on 1 May. Trade experts had predicted that the film would be hit by "Uttama Villain". But the release of the Kamal Haasan starrer was kept on hold due to financial issues, and therefore, the Raghava Lawrence starrer debuted to a superb response.
Having had decent advance booking, "Ganga" registered an average of 80 to 90 percent occupancy in single screens and multiplexes on its opening day. The movie ran to packed houses in many centres across both the states, collecting collected approximately ₹2 crore nett at the AP/T box office on the first day.
"Ganga" has become the biggest opener among dubbed films, after Vikram's "I" and Rajinikanth's "Linga".
Andhra Box Office tweeted: "1st Day figures of @im_raghava @taapsee #Ganga (2 Wk delayed Dub) are neck to neck with Rajini's #Lingaa (Direct dub) in AP!. Sensational!. For Kollywood films, Only #Lingaa & Shankar's #I have opened bigger than #Ganga on AP Day 1. .close to Double than nearest Suriya starer!."
Despite clashing with "Uttama Villain", "Ganga" maintained rock steady at the ticket counters on the subsequent days. The movie has collected ₹8.10 crore nett at the AP/T box office in the first weekend. Tolly Box Office tweeted,"#Ganga 3 Days AP/TS: 8.10 Crs, World Wide Share Around 9 Crs #Hit."
"Uttama Villain", which also a dubbed movie, is the Telugu version of the Tamil film with the same name. Its promos had also made the Telugu audience wait anxiously for its release. The film was slated to be released in theatres on 1 May, but was delayed due to some financial problems. The release of "Uttama Villain" was postponed by a day and the film hit screens a day after the release of "Ganga".
The Kamal Haasan starrer had a limited release in about 250 screens across both the states. Having registered good amount of advance booking, the movie opened to good response in both the states and showed decent growth on its second day. The makers are yet to reveal the collection figures. As per early trends, "Uttama Villain" has collected ₹2.5 crore at the AP/T box office during the weekend.
