Varisu box office collection - How did the 4 big Sankranthi releases fare at Karnataka box office?

Over the years, Karnataka has proven to be a vital focus area for south Indian filmmakers. With urban centres like Bengaluru, Mysuru and others, in particular, boasting multiculturalism which has, in turn, allowed for films of a variety of languages to thrive almost equally, box office trackers and trade pundits have maintained a keen eye on Karnataka for its viability. And with 2023 Sankranthi bringing along not one but four major non-Kannada releases - namely, Varisu, Thunivu, Veera Simha Reddy & Waltair Veerayya - Karnataka has been in the thick of all the box office action for the last couple of weeks. Let's take a quick look at how the four aforementioned big releases fared at the Karnataka box office, as of January 30th.

As per sacnilk.com, the Thalapathy Vijay & Rashmika Mandanna starrer Tamil film Varisu, which released worldwide on January 11th, has managed to gross more than Rs. 14 crores in Karnataka in its 19-day theatrical run so far. The Vamsi Paidipally had a superb start at the box office with Karnataka being the second-best-yielding market after Tamil Nadu with opening day collections of Rs. 5.6 crores (Rs. 20.1 crores in TN). However, the underwhelming critical and audience reviews caused the earnings to undergo a massive slump the very next day - having grossed more than Rs. 12 crores in the first week, Varisu ended its third Sunday (January 29th) in Karnataka at Rs. 14.06 crores. Reportedly, Varisu is the fifth film in Vijay's career to gross more than Rs. 13 crores in Karnataka.

Thunivu, the Ajith starrer, has fared similarly over the course of the last 19 days and as per the same trade source, the Tamil film has grossed approx. Rs. 12.50 crores so far in Karnataka. Starkly different to Varisu in terms of tone and genre, Thunivu began its journey in Karnataka with an Rs. 3.5 crore-opening day but could not retain the momentum over the next few days. Thunivu and Varisu clashed at the box office on January 11th.

The following day saw the massy Veera Simha Reddy, starring Nandamuri Balakrishna, Shruti Haasan, Duniya Vijay, Honey Rose, and others, hit the big screens on a decent note. The film, which has been directed by Gopichand Malineni, earned Rs. 2.6 crores (gross) in Karnataka on Day #1 of its theatrical run but soon encountered a slump - the film, over the last 18 days, has grossed a little over Rs. 9 crores in the state. Reportedly, Veera Simha Reddy is the highest-grossing film in Karnataka in Balakrishna's career.