Valimai registers career-best opening for Ajith at Tamil Nadu box office despite mixed reviews

Vinoth's Valimai has been considered as the biggest release ever for a film in Tamil Nadu. It is said that the action thriller produced by Boney Kapoor released in 1,000 screens in the state. The Ajith-starrer had shows starting from 4 am in several theatres in the state. 

The movie is said to have registered the career-best opening in Ajith's career at Chennai box office. But it is yet to surpass the collection of a few other movies starring Rajinikanth and Vijay. Fans of the star opine that a release on a non-working day or a festival would have made Valimai the biggest opener in Chennai and across Tamil Nadu.

As the movie has opened to mixed reviews, the trade is eagerly waiting to see how the film fares at the box office from Monday. With no other big ticket releases till March 10, the makers hope that the film would collect well for the next two weeks. Valimai is said to have collected close to ₹1.80 crores from Chennai and around ₹35 crores across Tamil Nadu.

The response for the Telugu, Kannada and Hindi versions, too, isn't quite encouraging. Film buffs feel that the team could have worked on the duration of the movie. The three-hours run time and generic emotional scenes have been receiving backlash from critics and the audience. 

The action scenes choreographed by Dhilip Subbarayan and cinematography by Nirav Shah are a few elements which have been receiving unanimous positive response from the audience and critics alike. The characters of Ajith and Huma Qureshi, too, have been appreciated.

Ajith's next project, tentatively titled, AK 61, will also have Vinoth at the helm. Boney Kapoor will be bankrolling the movie which is expected to go on floors in March in Hyderabad. This is the third collaboration of the trio after Nerkonda Paarvai and Valimai.