Actor-politician Pawan Kalyan's much-awaited period drama Hari Hara Veera Mallu – Part 1: Sword vs Spirit finally made its theatrical debut on Thursday (July 24) and opened to an impressive start at the box office. Despite facing years of delays, the film managed to draw massive footfalls across cinema halls, particularly in the Telugu-speaking regions.
According to early estimates reported by Sacnilk, the film earned Rs 31.50 crore on its opening day in India across all languages. This is in addition to the Rs 12.7 crore the film had already collected from paid premieres held a day earlier.
With this, Hari Hara Veera Mallu has recorded a strong total gross of Rs 44.20 crore, marking one of the highest openings for Pawan Kalyan.
The film also registered a noteworthy 57.39 per cent overall occupancy in Telugu theatres on the first day of its release. Morning shows saw the highest attendance at 63.52 per cent, which dipped slightly during the afternoon with 45.89 per cent occupancy. However, the numbers picked up again in the evening with 58.12 per cent, and continued strong into the night shows, which recorded 62.01 per cent occupancy.
Despite mixed reviews from critics and fans alike, the star power of Pawan Kalyan has clearly drawn audiences to theatres in large numbers. The opening performance has surpassed the actor's previous records, putting Hari Hara Veera Mallu ahead of his earlier blockbusters such as Vakeel Saab (Rs 40.10 crore), Bheemla Nayak (Rs 37.15 crore) and Bro (Rs 30.5 crore) in terms of Day 1 collection.
The coming weekend will be crucial in determining the film's long-term performance, but the solid opening has laid a promising foundation for the historical action epic.
About Hari Hara Veera Mallu
The film has been directed by Jyothi Krisna, son of Rathnam. It also stars Nidhhi Agerwal as a dancer named Panchami, and Bobby Deol as Aurangzeb along with Nargis Fakhri, Sathyaraj, Jisshu Sengupta and Dalip Tahil.
Hari Hara Veera Mallu is the first installment in a planned series. The sequel is yet to be filmed and will reportedly move forward based on the success of the first part.
