Late Puneeth Rajkumar’s James marches into the 100-crore domestic collection club

When the makers of the late Puneeth Rajkumar’s last commercial film, James, faced issues with a few screens in Karnataka, after RRR was set for release, they fought for those movie halls not only because of the sentiment attached to the project, but also because the actor had a certain track record. “Appu sir has a dedicated family audience fan base, who will come to theatres only after the initial frenzy is over. He had a reputation of drawing family crowds well into the sixth and seventh weekends of a theatrical release and that is happening with James too,” says director Chethan.

On the strength of this, as of this weekend, James has recorded a Rs 100-crore gross domestic collection in Karnataka alone, with the producer’s share amounting to about Rs 60 crore, state reports. Trade analysts have been reporting good footfall for James, with several house-full shows, in all centres across the state.

Meanwhile, amid the film’s good run at the box office, it is also slated to hit OTT in a few days. The makers had sold the digital rights of James to SonyLiv, which is making the film available to stream from April 14.

Produced by Kishore Pathikonda, James was in production when leading man Puneeth Rajkumar passed away. Determined to bring the film to theatres as a parting gift for his fans, the team decided to release it on his birthday, March 17, just over four months later. While the team worked at breakneck speed to meet this deadline, it was also decided to make it a pan-India release with versions in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi as well, in addition to Kannada. “I had most the first and second half and the climax ready, but there were some portions that had not been shot with Appu sir at the time of his demise. We managed some with CGI and others with a stunt double,” explains Chethan.

The film subsequently did release as promised on March 17, with a whopping 4,000 screens worldwide. In Karnataka, all single-screens played only James on the first day, as a mark of respect to the late actor.