'Sulthan' day 1 box office collection report: A career-best for Karthi

'Sulthan' collected Rs 55 lakh at the Chennai box office on the opening day

Actor Karthi's latest movie Sulthan, which hit the screens on Friday (April 2), has opened to a thunderous response at the Chennai box office despite the Covid-19 pandemic. According to trade analyst LM Kaushik, the actioner grossed Rs 55 lakh on day 1 and emerged as the best opener of the young star's career. The record was previously held by Theeran, which had collected Rs 52 lakh.

Sulthan comes at a time when the Tamil film industry is trying to get back to normal after the Covid-19 pandemic, Vijay's Master opened to a phenomenal response at the box office during Pongal even though theatres were operating at 50 per cent capacity and emerged as a blockbuster. Films such as Simbu's Eeswaran, Chakra and Paris Jeyaraj, however, failed to live up to expectations.

The positive response to Karthi's film may help Kollywood regain its mojo.

Sulthan features Karthi in a new avatar and marks his first collaboration with filmmaker Bakkiyaraj Kannan. The film stars actor Rashmika Mandanna as the leading lady and is the first Tamil movie of her career. It has received mixed to positive reviews with most critics praising Karthi's performance and the sincere execution. The word of mouth is decent, which should help Sulthan stay stable today (April 3).

It may, however, face some competition from Godzilla vs Kong as the Hollywood biggie is expected to remain the top choice of the 'Gen Y' crowd. The film's performance in the coming days may also be affected by the Tamil Nadu elections as that is the focus of attention with the polling day (April 6) around the corner.

Karthi, meanwhile, is going through a busy phase on the world front and will soon be seen in Mani Ratnam's magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan. The film is based on a book of the same name and features the Thambi actor in the role of Chola feudatory Vallavaraiyan Vandiyadevan. The cast includes Vikram, Mollywood actor Jayaram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Trisha.