Kaala Box Office Collection Day 1: Rajinikanth's movie off to a good start; creates record in Chennai

Amid much fanfare and controversy, Rajinikanth's new movie Kaala was released on Thursday. However, before its release Kaala was mired in controversy due to Rajinikanth's comment on the Cauvery dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. This was followed by a ban in Karnataka that dented Kaala's opening day business in the country. But Kaala will run in theatres across Karnataka from today, as mentioned by trade analyst Ramesh Bala. While the first day collection of Kaala might not have matched up to that of Kabali, there's still lot of time to recover. As of now, Kaala has created a new all-time box office record in Chennai by opening with Rs 1.76 crore, as tweeted by Bala.

In Kochi, Kaala made Rs 10.31 lakh with 75.64% occupancy across 40 shows.

Kaala has also done commendable business in US, with gross collection of $7,50,000.

In France, Kaala raked in Rs 16,80,000.

The pressure on Rajinikanth and director Pa Ranjith is immense to recreate the Kabali effect. But it must also be taken into account that Kaala has released in fewer theatres than Kabali did. Moreover, this is the month of Ramzan and a significant amount of the audience would refrain from watching films during this period. Additionally, Kaala is clashing with Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom that is already a blockbuster franchise globally and stars Chris Pratt who commands a strong following, thanks to the Guardians of the Galaxy series.

Nevertheless, Kaala had already collected Rs 230 crore even before the release of the movie through its theatrical and music rights. Kaala earned Rs 155 crore from theatrical rights, Rs 70 crore from broadcast rights and Rs 5 crore from music rights.

Set in Mumbai's Dharavi, Kaala is a gangster movie that also stars Nana Patekar as the antagonist, Huma Qureshi and Pankaj Tripathi. It is produced by Dhanush.