Pawan Kalyan’s “Agnyaathavaasi” may not have lived up to the sky-high pre-release expectations but it nonetheless set a new Non-Baahubali 2 record, both at domestic and worldwide box office.

The biggie collected a distributor share of Rs 26.30 Cr with a gross of over 38 Cr from the two Telugu states. This is 2nd biggest opener of all time, higher than that of Khaidi No.150 and next only to the mighty “Baahubali 2”, which collected 60 Cr gross from the Telugu states. The Trivikram directorial grossed over 60 Cr on its opening day at the worldwide box office, which also is a Non-Baahubali record.

Below is the area-wise break-up of share:

Nizam – 5,45,00,000
Ceded – 3,30,00,000
Nellore – 1,64,00,000
Guntur – 3,78,08,803
Krishna – 1,82,73,020
West – 3,70,41,506
East – 2,85,00,000
Uttharandhra – 3,75,00,000

Total 1st day AP & TS Share – 26.30 Cr (Gross – 38 Cr)

Total 1st day worldwide Gross – 60 Cr

The film opens on a terrific note in USA as well, it collected $1.67M on the first day, including premieres.

Agnyaathavaasi is off to a sensational start at box office. According to the trade reports, there was significant drop on Day 2 because of the below par talk. With two biggies – Jai Sima and Gang hitting screens tomorrow, and a mammoth 125 Cr to recover, it needs to be seen how Agnyaathavaasi sustains at box office.

Power star Pawan Kalyan’s highly anticipated ‘Agnyaathavaasi’ finally hit screens today amidst sky high expectations. Taking the craze into account, the film was sold for phenomenal prices and given a massive release across the world. Considering the special permissions from the govts of the Telugu states, the film is sure to take an earth shattering opening. Now film buffs must be wondering how much the film should recover to become a hit.

Agnyaathavaasi has done non-Baahubali record pre-release business, approx. 160 Cr, of which Rs 125 Cr was from worldwide theatrical rights. Except the Baahubali films, no Telugu film has so far collected that much amount from theatres, the current non-Baahubali record holder, ‘Khaidi No.150’ collected a worldwide share of Rs 105 Cr approx. So, setting up a new Non-Baahubali record won’t be enough, but Agnyaathavaasi should collect Rs 20 Cr more share than the current non-Baahubali record holder in order to just break even.

Breaking up the phenomenal theatrical business of Agnyaathavaasi, the Pawan-Trivikram combo film fetched around Rs 92 Cr from the Telugu states alone. 29 Cr from Nizam, 16 Cr from Ceded and the remaining from Andhra. Overseas rights were sold for a whopping Rs 19.5 Cr approx. Adding Karnataka and Rest of India business, the cumulative theatrical business reached approx. 125 Cr.

Recovering such huge sum is a herculean task indeed but given the advantages of Agnyaathavaasi, the film has chance to create history. Sankranthi season, two days early release from its competitors, permission to screen minimum 5 shows across the Telugu states for one week, record release for any Indian film in US etc. are the key advantages that may help the film to rake in maximum moolah in the first week irrespective of the talk.

Lets’s see if this biggie of Pawan can make buyers happy unlike the earlier films.

Tamilnadu’s politics are surely getting heated up with the entry of Superstar Rajnikanth into the arena. And then we have various celebs lining up to join this newcomer hoping that they will all bring the change together.

A strong rumour wind is blowing from Chennai these days that two happening celebs are likely to test waters by joining hands with Rajni. One of them is none other than former heroine Kushboo and the other one is said to be reigning star heroine Nayantara. Both these actresses are not native Tamilians, but by identity and settlement, they have become one.

Though Kushboo is said to be sailing with Congress party from a time, she’s likely to shift loyalties towards Rajnikanth’s upcoming political outfit, a rumour suggests. Also, Tamil political observers are confirming that provided her proximity with Rajni, Kushboo will surely test her political luck this way.

When it comes to hottie Nayantara, this Malayali has settled down in Chennai after her rumoured affairs with various Tamil stars and subsequently broke ups. But she’s said to be showing enormous interest in coming to politics as her latest films are also reflecting that opinion of her. Many Malayalam tabloids are already writing various stories about Nayan’s entry into politics.

We have to see if these two actresses will really enter into election fray and contest in Tamilnadu or all these news just end up as rumours.

When some former heroines who are much elder to her are still demanding lead-lady roles, Kushi and Okkadu fame Bhumika Chawla has however chosen a different route. Unlike an Aishwarya Rai or Ravena Tandon, this talented lady decided to do supporting roles as well.

After starting the second innings of her career with MCA movie, Bhumika impressed one and all with her ‘vadina’ act in the movie. But this proven actress wants to showcase her hot side yet again if her recent photo shoot is anything to go by. Here comes that 2.0 version of Bhumika.

Posing in a cleavage-revealing dress, with ‘red’ painted all over, Bhumika is surely shedding oodles of hotness that is tough to deal with in this winter. Needless to say, age is catching up, but still, she’s one of those timeless beauties we often seen in film circles.

One wonders if Bhumika will try her luck again as a leading lady for all that ravishing charm she’s spreading around.

It is very rare to see senior hero Venkatesh making a public appearance along with his wife, Neeraja. So, the couple naturally hogs limelight and leaves a memorable moment for the actor’s fans whenever they walk side by side.

Venkatesh has recently attended a family function with his wife, who doesn’t appear except in family functions. The lovely picture also has Venkatesh’s brother, Daggubati Suresh and his wife posing for the camera. The dashing Venky and his graceful wife look adorable together, giving fans a frame-worthy picture.

On work front, Venky is getting ready to start the shooting of his new film in the direction of Teja.

There was much ado about Venkatesh’s cameo in Agnyaathavaasi. Since Pawan and Venky had a good personal rapport as well as on-screen chemistry, many thought that the duo’s presence together would bring cheers from fans of both worlds. But Venky is missing in Agnyaathavaasi. People who have caught up the early shows of PK’s 25th film were shocked to observe Venky’s absence.

Whereas, Trivikram has smartly kept Venky’s footage under the wraps. It is learnt that some 3-minute-odd Venky’s guest appearance is going to thrill Daggubati fans that is yet to be attached to film.

If all goes well, Trivikram may add this in a couple of days. But it also depends on the initial talk for the film. So, let’s wait and see.

With the success of ‘MCA’, Natural Star Nani has proved that he is now bigger than a mid-range hero, and is aiming for the Top league. In the aftermath of his success streak, Top actresses are also showing interest to work with him now. The latest we hear is that the consistent hero, who hasn’t romanced a top actress in his career yet, might pair up with a top leading lady in his next film.

We have learnt from our reliable sources that Rakul Preet Singh has given her consent to pair with Nani in his new film, a multistarrer also starring Nagarjuna Akkineni. Rakul, who is a good friend of Nani, reportedly agreed to do the film both because of the good role in offering and also her trust in Nani that he can give her the much needed hit. Nani’s film could be Rakul’s first Telugu release after SPYder last year.

From Nani’s point of view, Rakul is the first top actress that he will be romancing. He has earlier paired with Samantha but she wasn’t a top actress by then. Rakul’s addition will also add brand value to his multistarrer and help him in aiming at a much bigger market.

To be directed by Sriram Aditya of ‘Bhale Manchi Roju’ fame, the Nag-Nani multistarrer will go on floors from March.

Pawan Kalyan, wife Anna Lezhneva, newborn baby boy Mark Shankar Pawanovich, son Akira Nandan, director Trivikram Srinivas, Pawan’s close aide Narra Srinivas have attended the special show of Agnyaathavaasi.

The special show was screened exclusively for Pawan’s family at Shabdalaya studio. Pawan along with Trivikram have watched the film.

Apparently, this is the first-ever film for Mark Shankar Pawanovich. It is learnt that Pawan’s wife and his elder son Akira too enjoyed the film a lot.

Dil Raju, who has acquired the Nizam’s theatrical rights of Agnyaathavaasi for a staggering amount and is releasing the film in Nizam, has planned for a slew of premieres across Hyderabad on Jan 9th.

But surprisingly, producers have opposed Raju’s idea and has requested him to not to screen the film in advance.

Even for films such as Baahubali : The Conclusion and Janatha Garage, the late-night shows have garnered mixed talk initially. Since then, all big-budget films have got alert and not taking any chances since this may further affect the Box Office collections of first day and first weekend.

Joining the same tradition, the producers of Agnyaathavaasi have asked Dil Raju not to host premieres. This has disrupted the plans of Dil Raju who planned to rake in huge moolah with the premieres. But trade analysts say that producers are right as even little mixed talk from premieres would cost more. Dil Raju too agreed to producer’s request.

Overall, this is considered as a good move.

Strongly hurt with the song ‘Kodaka Koteswara Rao’ , one advocate Koteswara Rao has lodged complaint in Machavaram police station against Kodaka Koteswara Rao song in Pawan Kalyan’s Agnyaathavaasi. Alleging that he was deeply hurt with the song, he demanded the producer, director and the film’s protagonist to remove the song from the film immediately.

“If any road-side guy had sung the song, I’d not have bothered. But an influential star like Pawan Kalyan sings such a song insulting people with the name Koteswara Rao, many others take inspiration from him and insult us regularly,” said advocate Koteswara Rao speaking to media.

The advocate further added that public are insulting him by chanting the lyrics of the song. Koteswara Rao stated that the name is named after Lord Shiva and popular IAS officers, judges, advocates and severla other people have the name.

He went onto allege that the whole lyrics of the song are quite demeaning and gross insult to guys with the name Koteswara Rao. He felt besides him, several others bearing with the same name are with him and said all of them are depressed with the insult.

“Why only Koteswara Rao? Why not Chiranjeevi? or Naga Babu? or Allu Aravind? Or Trivikram? instead of Koteswara Rao,” asked the complainant.

The song contains ‘Orey neecha nikrushta koteshwara Rao’ and says ‘Chuttai Pothavu Ro’, ‘Chetha Buthai Pothavu Ro’, ‘Motham Manishe Pothavu Ro’. These are raising objections from the people bearing the name Koteswara Rao.