Box office: Nikhil’s Karthikeya 2 surges ahead of Aamir and Akshay in Bollywood

As of 18 August, the Hindi version of Karthikeya 2 earned ₹5.75 crore in North India. It is being screened in over 1,000 theatres.

ByY Krishna Jyothi

Published Aug 19, 2022 | 6:43 PMUpdatedAug 19, 2022 | 7:35 PM

karthikeya 2 hindi

The Hindi version of Nikhil Siddhartha and Anupama Parameswaran-starrer Karthikeya 2 is creating new records at the box office. Thanks to its refreshing content, the film is drawing huge crowds to cinema halls across North India.

According to reports, the movie has collected ₹5.75 crore in North India since its release on 13 August.

On 18 August alone, the adventure thriller registered ₹1.64-crore in collections at the box office. Interestingly, Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha earned ₹1.35 crore and Akshay Kumar’s Raksha Bandhan earned ₹1 crore the same day.

According to film critic and business analyst Taran Adarsh, Laal Singh Chaddha and Raksha Bandhan recorded an opening-day (both released on 11 August) collection of around ₹12 crore and ₹8.20 crore, respectively.

Bollywood loses out to Karthikeya 2

Apparently, both the big Bollywood releases lost their screen count to the Nikhil-starrer, owing to poor occupancy. This, in turn, came as a shot in the arm for the makers of Karthikeya 2, who succeeded in grabbing  the attention of distributors in North India.

Initially, the Hindi version of Karthikeya 2 was released in 50 theatres. But eventually, the number of screens increased to over 1,000 on Day 6, with around 3,000 shows.

Here’s a quick look at the collections of the film (Hindi version) since its release:

  • 13 August: ₹ 7 lakh
  • 14 August: ₹28 lakh
  • 15 August: ₹1.10 crore
  • 16 August: ₹1.28 crore
  • 17 August: ₹1.38 crore
  • 18 August: ₹1.64 crore
  • Overall collection: ₹5.75 core

Meanwhile, the US collections of the film have been put at $700,000 and are expected to cross $1 million soon. In all, the movie is believed to have recorded a gross collection of ₹42 crore worldwide. It was made with a budget of ₹15-20 crore.

Team on a success tour

Nikhil Siddhartha, who played the titular role of Karthikeya in the movie, shared his feelings about the success of his latest release on his social media account.

The actor, along with the Karthikeya 2 cast and crew, is currently in the temple town of Tirupati to celebrate the film’s success. Since the opening day, the team has been touring India to promote their project.

Karthikeya 2 is a sequel to the 2014 release Karthikeya, which also features Nikhil as the lead actor. However, the latest edition of this adventure thriller has a different story to narrate: Lord Krishna and Kaliyuga.

Directed by Chandoo Mondeti, the movie features Bollywood actor Anumpam Kher in a guest role. It is produced by Abhishek Agarwal Arts and People Media Factory. Kaala Bhairava scored its music.

The film came as a breather for Tollywood which has seen a number of box office duds in the recent past due to bad content, a steep rise in ticket prices and early OTT releases, among other reasons.