Indian 2 box office collection day 1: Shankar and Kamal Haasan are back with the sequel to their 1996 cult vigilante drama Indian after a long wait of 18 years. As per Sacnilk, the pan-Indian film has managed to open at ₹25.6 crore despite largely negative reviews. 

Indian 2 box office

The ₹25.6 crore collection that Indian 2 garnered on its opening day in India includes ₹16.5 crore in Tamil, ₹7.9 crore in Telugu, and ₹1.2 crore in Hindi. It released in Telugu and Hindi as Bharateeyudu 2 and Hindustani 2 respectively. It clashed with Sudha Kongara's Soorarai Pottru remake Sarfira, starring Akshay Kumar, in the Hindi market.

The film is also battling with Nag Ashwin's pan-Indian dystopian sci-fi epic Kalki 2898 AD, which released a couple of weeks ago but is still dominating the box office across the country. The film stars Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, and Deepika Padukone in the lead. Interestingly, it also features Kamal Haasan in a couple of scenes as chief antagonist Supreme Yaskin. He's expected to have more screen time in the sequel.

About Indian 2

The sequel is considered a comeback of sorts for director Shankar, who appeared to have hit a low after the death of writer Sujatha in 2008. The Shankar-Sujatha combination delivered many hits in the Tamil film industry, with Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai-starrer Enthiran being considered a pinnacle for them. The hits also include Indian, Mudhalvan, Boys, and Shivaji: The Boss.

In the film, Kamal Haasan revives the role of Senapathy, called 'Indian Thatha' lovingly by fans, who fights corruption, armed with the ancient martial art practice of India, 'varma kalai.' The music for the original film was by A R Rahman, while Anirudh composed the music for the sequel. Indian 2 is jointly produced by Lyca Productions and Red Giant Movies. It also stars Siddharth, S J Suryah, Bobby Simha, Gulshan Grover and late Nedumudi Venu.

The makers of the film had earlier approached the Tamil Nadu government, where the first show could only be shown at 9 am – while shows at 6 am are allowed in the neighbouring states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana – to get permission for the 6 am show. While that was denied, the makers of Indian 2 obtained permission to hold an extra show -- making it five in a day – in the first three days.

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