The Big Picture
- Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire has had an impressive global gross of $75 million, despite competition from other films like Dunki.
- The success of the film’s opening weekend can be attributed to the star-driven economy in India, especially in the south Indian film industries.
- Despite his previous films not doing well, Prabhas has managed to shine in ”
- Salaar and is set to continue his streak with the upcoming film “Kalki 2898 AD.
After a massive theatrical run that brought 2023 to a close in grand fashion, India’s Telugu-language blockbuster Salaar: Part 1 — Ceasefire is slowing down at the global box office. After its third weekend, the action-thriller’s global gross stands at an excellent $75 million — Godzilla Minus One, by comparison, recently passed the $80 million mark — despite the stiff competition posed by the Hindi-language comedy-drama Dunki, starring Shah Rukh Khan.
As with most big-budget films of its kind, Salaar was massively front-loaded. The movie made nearly $40 million — more than half of its current total — in just its opening weekend alone. This usually happens because India is still a largely star-driven economy, and any film featuring a big enough star is likely to attract their fans on the opening weekend. This is more pronounced in the south Indian film industries, where fans are known to literally worship their favorite male movie stars on occasion.
Salaar stars Prabhas, best known for his two Baahubali movies, directed by RRR’s S.S. Rajamouli. Despite the Baahubali films generating nearly $300 million globally between 2015 and 2017, however, Prabhas wasn’t able to replicate that kind of success with his subsequent releases. Before Salaar, he starred in three back-to-back bombs — Saaho, Radhe Shyam and Adipurush. Each of these are among the most expensive Indian films ever made, and Prabhas will continue the streak with his upcoming dystopian thriller Kalki 2898 AD, which is reportedly the biggest Indian film of all time.
‘Salaar’ Is Among the Top-Grossing Indian Films of 2023
Set in an alternate history where two friends are caught in the midst of an ongoing gang war, Salaar is directed by Prashanth Neel, who is best known for his two blockbuster KGF films. The Kannada-language KGF: Chapter 2 was the highest-grossing Indian movie of 2022, more successful than even the Telugu-language crossover hit RRR, which also cost considerably more to produce. India is segregated into multiple local film industries that operate independently of each other. The term “Bollywood” is often misused as a synonym for all Indian cinema, but actually refers only to the Hindi-language industry, based in the city of Mumbai.
Salaar is now the fifth-biggest Indian film of 2023, behind SRK’s Jawan and Pathan, the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Animal, and the legacy sequel Gadar 2. It recently overtook two major Tamil-language hits — Jailer, starring Rajinikanth, and Leo, starring Vijay. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire
A gang leader tries to keep a promise made to his dying friend and takes on the other criminal gangs.
- Release Date
- December 23, 2023
- Director
- Prashanth Neel
- Cast
- Prabhas , Prithviraj Sukumaran
