Baththa's Box Office: Warm Reviews, Modest Numbers
Baththa has warm reviews and a modest run. Trackers put it between Rs 23.7 and 26.8 crore net, and the daily numbers show a weekend pattern.
Baththa, Vijay Sethupathi's Tamil drama, has been liked by critics and has earned modestly. Trackers put its India net collection between Rs 23.70 crore and Rs 26.78 crore after two weeks, depending on the source. The day-by-day pattern says more than the total.
The numbers
The Times of India, citing Sacnilk, reported that the film had earned Rs 26.78 crore net in India after 14 days, and Rs 31 crore gross. Box Office India 24 lists Rs 23.70 crore net and Rs 27.34 crore gross through Day 17, with Rs 3.89 crore overseas and about Rs 31.23 crore worldwide gross. The two net figures differ by about Rs 3 crore across different day counts, which means one of the trackers is higher than the other on a like-for-like basis. We cannot say which.
Koimoi reported Rs 15.42 crore net after eight days, equal to Rs 18.19 crore gross, from a Thursday Oct. 1 release.
The daily pattern
The Times of India's breakdown, from Sacnilk, shows the opening day at Rs 1.50 crore, the first Friday at Rs 2.70 crore, Saturday Rs 2.75 crore and Sunday Rs 3.10 crore. Monday fell to Rs 1.30 crore, then Rs 1.40 crore, Rs 1.33 crore and Rs 1.38 crore, for a first-week total of Rs 15.46 crore. In the second weekend the film earned Rs 1.65 crore, Rs 3.10 crore and Rs 3.20 crore, then Rs 1.20 crore, Rs 1.15 crore and Rs 1.02 crore on the following Monday to Wednesday.
Box Office India 24 lists the best single day as Day 11 at Rs 2.76 crore and the first day at Rs 1.28 crore, which does not match the Times of India's Rs 1.50 crore opening. Trackers estimate daily figures differently.
On the second Wednesday the Times of India recorded 16.27 percent overall occupancy across 1,674 shows, with the night shows highest at 18.92 percent. It put cumulative footfalls at 2,255,958 by Day 14.
Why trade writers call it modest
Koimoi's Day 8 report says the film had limited pre-release buzz because of a lack of promotions, and that once released it earned audience love and critical appreciation. It says the opening-week collections were not impressive for a film with unanimously positive reviews, that showings were restricted to southern India, and that the film would be distributed in other parts of India because of demand. It compares the opening week with Sardar 2's Rs 15.21 crore.
The comparison is Koimoi's. Sardar 2 was, it says, a much more hyped film that fizzled out in its opening week, and the point of the comparison is that a film with good reviews earned about the same.
What critics said
The Hindu's Bhuvanesh Chandar called the film a delightfully funny, moving comedy-drama, set in 1986, about a dreaded don who rediscovers himself after crossing a schoolboy. The film runs 159 minutes in that review. It is Balaji Tharaneetharan's first theatrical release in eight years.
Why it matters
Reviews and revenue have not moved together for this film. A weekend-heavy pattern, with weekday collections of about Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.4 crore, is the pattern the Times of India figures show, and Koimoi ties it to limited promotion and screens. Whether the film's wider release lifts it is something the Day 17 and Day 18 figures do not yet show.
What we could not confirm
We could not confirm any producer figure. The trackers disagree on the opening-day and total numbers, and we have not seen a reconciliation. We could not confirm Koimoi's claim about a southern-only first-week release from another source. We have not seen the film.
Sources
*Cover photo: *[*https://silverscreen.in*](https://silverscreen.in)*, Wikimedia Commons, *[*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vijay_Sethupathi_at_Dharmadurai_Audio_launch.jpg*](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vijay_Sethupathi_at_Dharmadurai_Audio_launch.jpg)* (CC BY-SA 3.0).*