The team of Maharshi starring Mahesh Babu and Pooja Hegde has been celebrating its success, but the movie is yet to recover the investment of some distributors even after 12 days.
Released in the theatres on May 9, Maharshi opened to fantastic response and collected over Rs 100 crore gross at the worldwide box office in the first weekend. In just four days, the movie returned Rs 64 crore for its distributors, who have shelled out over Rs 100 crore on its theatrical rights.
All the distributors were thrilled over the massive response for Maharshi in its opening weekend and had hoped that the movie would fetch huge amount of profits in the coming days. Producer Dil Raju, who has jointly bankrolled it with Ashwini Dutt and Potluri V Prasad, held a success party on May 12 and revealed how excited the distributors were.
Dil Raju had said, "I've asked them to pay the amount of money equal to the final collection Bharat Anu Nenu has earned in each territory. They obliged. And now they are backing me by saying that they are super happy with the collections. They are asking me for a hug. That's the true feeling coming from their heart."
But their excitement was short-lived as the collections dropped during the weekdays and also in the second week. Maharshi has struggled to recover them the remaining 36 percent of their investments in the next eight days. It is yet to return some amount of investments to them.
As per the reports, Maharshi has collected around Rs 175 crore gross at the worldwide box office in 12 days (till its second Monday). The movie is estimated to have earned a total of Rs 90 crore for its global distributors. It is likely to fetch them Rs 10 crore, the remaining amount of their investment in the coming days.
According to reports, Dil Raju himself has distributed Maharshi in Nizam and Vizag and the prices of their theatrical rights are valued at Rs 24 crore and Rs 9.6 crore, respectively. The movie has earned him over Rs 25 crore in Nizam and Rs 9 crore in Vizag. The movie has earned its valued price and is set to earn profits in coming days.
Maharshi has returned almost 100 percent of the investments to the distributors in areas like East and West Godavari, Krishna and Guntur. The movie is struggling to break the even in Nellore, where it might incur a loss of few lakhs to its distributors. Its current pace of collections show that the film would incur huge losses its distributors in Ceded, where it is yet recover over 25 percent of their investment.
Maharshi has not only returned 100 percent of the investments to the distributors in Karnataka and other parts of India, but also earned them small amount of profits. Overseas distributors have reportedly shelled out Rs 14 crore on its theatrical rights and it has recovered them nearly Rs 12.50 crore. The current pace of collection in the international market will incur them small amount of losses.
Dil Raju and team has projected Maharshi as a blockbuster success in the theatres and they held some parties to celebrate its success. Mahesh Babu visited some theatres in the Telugu states to thank the viewers for their support. The makers might have hefty sum from the film, but the prospects of distributors are very little. Hence, it is really hard to call it hit venture for them.
