Double Challenge For Superstar Rajinikanth's Coolie In Hindi

Mumbai, August 11 - Superstar Rajinikanth’s gangster action drama Coolie, directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, is aiming to rewrite box office history when it opens worldwide on August 14. Carrying massive pre-release buzz, the film has the potential to take Tamil cinema into uncharted territory — provided it performs strongly in the Hindi market.

As I reported earlier, Coolie is Kollywood's biggest bet for 1000 crores club entry if it manages to stay strong against Hrithik Roshan and Jr. NTR's War 2, which also releases on August 14. However, things have changed over the last couple of weeks, which might not be good news for Coolie.



The YRF's spy universe film was supposed to be the only challenge for Coolie in the Hindi market, but there is one more threat, called Mahavatar Narsimha. Produced by Kaleem Productions and presented by Hombale Films, Mahavatar Narsimha is on a record-breaking run, growing stronger with each passing week. Remarkably, its third weekend gross has surpassed its second, which itself outperformed the opening weekend.

With demand still peaking, the film is set to retain a significant number of screens even during the Independence Day release rush. This poses a major hurdle for Coolie, especially in its opening weekend. War 2 has already secured a massive release across more than 5,000 screens in the Hindi version alone and is expected to maintain them through the extended holiday frame.

By contrast, Coolie's Hindi-dubbed version will open on fewer than 1,500 screens, making positive word of mouth absolutely crucial. It becomes even more important for Coolie to understand the genuine threat of Mahavatar Narsimha, whose box office carnage has slowed down the pace of YRF's mega blockbuster Saiyaara, which at one stage was looking to cross 400 crores net, but now will fall well below the target.

For Coolie to stand any chance of doing well at the Hindi box office, it will need unanimous positive word of mouth, and hope it spreads faster. In case of mixed reception, the Rajinikanth starrer will be at a huge risk of losing screens to Mahavatar Narsimha and other holdover titles. The coming week will reveal whether Coolie can overcome these dual challenges and stake its claim among India's all-time biggest box office successes.

Stay tuned...