Kabir Singh works wonders in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu

Shahid Kapoor's Kabir Singh, which is an adaptation of hit Telugu movie Arjun Reddy, has worked wonders at the box office in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana (AP/TS) and Tamil Nadu in its opening weekend.

Made on a budget of Rs 4 crore, Arjun Reddy had fetched Rs 6 crore for its producers from the sale of its global theatrical rights. The movie grossed over Rs 50 crore at the worldwide box office in its lifetime and earned Rs 25.80 crore for its distributors. After seeing the response, Sandeep Reddy Vanga decided to remake it in Hindi as Kabir Singh and thought the universal appeal will help it become a hit too.

Its promos had generated a huge amount of curiosity about Kabir Singh. After seeing the hype, many felt that the movie would strike a chord with the audience in north India and become a big hit at the box office. But none expected it to fare well in ticket counters down south, as the filmgoers have already watched the original version.

Everyone thought that they may not spend money on its Hindi version as it is a frame to frame copy of the original film and offers nothing new to the viewers. But to their surprise, Kabir Singh registered good advance booking and opened to a fantastic response. The word of mouth drove the mass crazy towards theatres.

Kabir Singh has collected Rs 4 crore net at the AP/TS box office in three days and its collection is on par with the first weekend business of its original version Arjun Reddy in the Telugu states. Jalapathy Gudelli‏, a film critic from Hyderabad, tweeted, "Correction: #KabirSingh collects Rs 70 Cr in its first weekend. First Sunday record in 2019. Surprise: Rs 4 Cr came from Nizam+AP region."

Tamil Nadu is not a potential market for Hindi films, but Kabir Singh has collected Rs 1.20 crore net at the TN box office in its opening weekend. Sreedhar Pillai‏, a film critic from Chennai, tweeted, "#KabirSingh 3 day total business in Tamil Nadu,(the smallest market for Hindi films in India)- ₹1.21 Cr gross, nett ₹92 lakhs! Superb @shahidkapoor film breaks into market dominated by #Khans."

The Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani starrer also fared a well in the theatres across Karnataka and Kerala, but the distributors are yet to reveal the figures. The south Indian total is likely to be closer to Rs 10 crore.

Kabir Singh has collected Rs 70.83 crore net at the Indian box office and its day-wise breakup is Rs 20.21 crore on Friday, Rs 22.71 crore on Saturday and Rs 27.91 crore on Sunday.