This Friday, Chandoo Mondeti’s film Thandel, starring Naga Chaitanya and Sai Pallavi, was launched in theatres. The movie’s producers revealed on Saturday that Chaitanya had his best opening day ever, with a global gross of ₹21.27 crore.
Based on Sacnilk’s initial predictions, the movie made ₹10 crore net in India, with Telugu earning ₹9.8 crore, Tamil earning ₹0.05 crore, and Hindi earning ₹0.15 crore. In India, the Telugu version had an overall occupancy rate of 53.58%, with night shows recording 71.10%.
For comparison, Chaitanya’s last movie, Custody, made ₹3.2 crore on its first day of release in India, while Love Story made ₹6.9 crore. Thandel, Chaitanya’s largest film to date, was produced by Bunny Vas under the Geetha Arts banner and presented by Allu Aravind. In the movie, two lovers from a fishing town close to Srikakulam are driven apart by fate and unfulfilled vows.
Before a fishing excursion to Gujarat, Chaitanya portrays Raju, a fisherman who is promoted to Thandel (captain of a fishing ship). Pallavi portrays Satya, his sweetheart, whom he affectionately refers to as his “loved one,” or bujji thalli. A real-life incident of fisherman accidentally sailing into Pakistani waters and being imprisoned there served as the inspiration for the movie. Both reviewers and viewers gave the movie mixed reviews.