Sivalinga 1st weekend box office collection: Raghava Lawrence's film beats Arya's Kadamban, Dhanush's Power Paandi (Pa Paandi) in 3 days

Raghava Lawrence's Sivalinga has emerged victorious at Chennai box office in its first weekend, beating biggies like Arya's Kadamban and Dhanush's Power Paandi aka Pa Paandi. The good word-of-mouth played a major role in its success.

Sivalinga has minted Rs 93.09 lakh from 225 shows in Chennai, Behindwoods reports. The movie had raked in close to Rs 30 lakh on the opening day and managed to retain good viewership in the following days.

Arya's Kadamban has managed to overcome initial mixed reviews as it registered a good occupancy rate in Chennai. In its opening weekend, the Tamil flick has raked in Rs 53.32 lakh from 165 shows.

Hollywood movie The Fate of The Furious is surprisingly in the third place. The success of the previous instalments has helped the movie to draw viewers' attention. It has raked in Rs 52.09 lakh from 153 shows in Chennai, which is a good opening for an English flick in the capital city of Tamil Nadu.

Power Paandi had a decent opening in Chennai by raking in Rs 40.99 lakh from 168 shows. The movie, which stars Rajkiran, is the directorial debut of actor Dhanush. It has Dhanush in a guest appearance, but no A-list actor in the lead. As a result, the Tamil flick has failed to attract audience in big numbers. Nonetheless, it has opened to positive reviews and has received better response than other two new Tamil releases. Hence, the collection of the film is likely to improve in the days to come.

KV Anand's Kavan has entered its third weekend and done average business despite three releases. The Vijay Sethupathi-starrer has raked in Rs 18.35 lakh from 96 shows to take its total tally to Rs 3.29 crore.

The collection of Mani Ratnam's Kaatru Veliyidai has witnessed a huge drop in its second weekend as it could earn only Rs 15.43 lakh from 90 shows. The 10-day total business stands at Rs 2.39 crore.

Hindi film Begum Jaan has earned Rs 5.27 lakh from 36 shows, while Nivin Pauly's Sakhavu has raked in Rs 1.95 lakh from 10 shows.

[1 lakh = 100,000 | 1 crore = 10 million | 100 crore = 1 billion]