The Dulquer Salmaan's film collected ₹13.5 crore in the opening weekend, though negative reviews flooded social media.
'King of Kotha' got steady footfall despite the ongoing negative campaign on social media. (Supplied)
Dulquer Salmaan’s latest gangster drama, King of Kotha was released on 24 August amid much fanfare. The film broke the pre-sales record set by KGF 2 in Kerala and registered a good collection on day one.
The makers organised promotional events in Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi, and Mumbai which helped King of Kotha get a good initial collection of ₹5 crore on the release day in Kerala.
Even as Dulquer is celebrating the release of the most hyped project in his career, the film is facing a targeted negative campaign on social media.
The makers claimed that negative reviews started pouring in even before the first show was over. Against this backdrop, the cast and crew took to social media to speak out against the negativity being spread about the movie.
In her Instagram story, Nyla Usha, who appeared in a negative tole, expressed her deep disappointment over the ongoing targeted negative campaign against the film.
Nyla Usha in ‘King of Kotha’. (Supplied)
She said: “Why is there so much negativity? It’s a fact that a film won’t be liked by all. Let others also watch the movies in theatres. It’s not good to say that, these people are kids of stars and there is no need to support them.”
Nyla also stated that she was not saying this since she was a part of the movie and clarified that she wasn’t a fan of all her films.
Shammy Thilakan, who acted as Dulquer Salmaan’s father in King of Kotha, wondered why people were degrading a film just because it had Mammootty’s son (Dulquer) and veteran director Joshiy’s son (Abhilash Joshiy).
“I understood how talented Abhilash Joshiy was even when he was shooting my portion in the movie. After watching the movie in the theatre, I realised the true potential of Abhilash as a director,” Shammy said.
The actor added that there was no need to compare debutant director Abhilash Joshiy with his father Joshiy as Shammy himself is the son of ace actor Thilakan and went through a tough time when he was compared with his father.
He also requested the audience not to destroy the career of Abhilash Joshiy by degrading the movie.
Similarly, film producer-distributor Shibu Thameens took to X platform to voice his opinion: “It’s very rare to see a full-end mass commercial film in Malayalam. Please don’t spread negativity for a film running in a full house with fans enjoying each moment. Let’s support having more biggies of such kind in Malayalam too.”
Very rare to see a full end mass commercial film in Malayalam. #KingOfKotha is pure such with all elements of masssss.
Very few young stars cud carry the tough charismatic role and our @dulQuer has don “Raju” in style with his own swag nd ease.Please don’t spread negativity for…
— Shibu Thameens (@shibuthameens) August 28, 2023
According to Sacnilk Entertainment, the collection of King of Kotha collected ₹13.5 crore in the opening weekend. It earned ₹6.85 crore net of which the share of the Malayalam version is ₹5.6 crore and that of the Telugu and Tamil versions is ₹85 lakh and ₹40 lakh respectively.
On Friday, 25 August, the Dulquer Salmaan-starrer earned ₹2.6 crore net in all languages. It collected ₹2.05 crore on Saturday and an estimated ₹2 crore on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the film is expected to collect ₹30 crore worldwide by Monday.
*#KingOfKotha India Net Collection
Day 3: 2.05 Cr
Total: 11.5 Cr
India Gross: 13.55 Cr
Details: https://t.co/tXFXJz6Mn5*— Sacnilk Entertainment (@SacnilkEntmt) August 27, 2023
#KingOfKotha in Cinemas now 👏🔥 approx. 30 crores + weekend collection as per the estimate 👏👏👏pic.twitter.com/s991gbvn9C
— AB George (@AbGeorge_) August 27, 2023
“If this was any other movie, it would have been a washout, given the negative campaign launched on day one. But the love of the audience towards Dulquer is the reason why King of Kotha is still performing well in theatres,” film’s PRO Pratheesh Sekhar told South First.
He further added, “There are some lobbies working against this movie. The bad reviews are being posted from fake accounts. When I met and spoke to the audience in theatres, they said they liked the film.”
Meanwhile, Vinod Iyer, partner of Crown Theatre in Kozhikode stated that there was a drop in collections after day one.
“King of Kotha got a mixed response, while RDX is doing great at the box office. Jailer still has a steady collection in my theatre. Hence, we shifted the Dulquer’s film to a small screen,” he said.
Another Kochi-based exhibitor admitted that the collections of Dulquer Salmaan-starrer dropped and attributed it to the negative campaign.
May 15, 2024
May 15, 2024
May 15, 2024
May 15, 2024
May 15, 2024
May 13, 2024
