The Billa II team has a reason to smile. For, the Ajith film seems to have broken a few box office records. Producer Suresh Balaje tells us, “We’ve received fantastic reports from all quarters about the BO collection of the film. It’s taken an unprecedented opening.”


Sunir Kheterpal, of In Entertainment, says, “The film is likely to garner anywhere between Rs 38-40 cr in gross BO collections in the opening weekend across India, which is historic for a Tamil film. While Tamil Nadu is the home market for an Ajith film, we are happy that we have been able to set new benchmarks in Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh as well.”

Aascar Ravichandran, who has taken the distribution of the film, insists, “As a distributor, I’m happy with the film’s response at the BO. Despite releasing on a normal weekend, the film’s managed to rake in the money. Even after the tax cut, the opening day collection for Billa II is bigger than Ajith’s previous film. Apart from Ajith, the rest of the cast are relatively new. There are no comedy tracks, no gaana songs in between and the film is action-packed. The whole film rests on Ajith’s shoulders. Taking into account all these factors, I’m surprised that the film has been able to trigger the curiosity factor. With this, Ajith has raised the bar as far as expectations from him are concerned.”

Despite the opening, the film has been getting a mixed response from the audience. Quiz Sunir on this and he says, “But this hasn’t stopped the audience from thronging to the theatres. The film is supposed to be unlike a typical Ajith film — unapologetic with the tone and the theme. The next five days will tell us where the film is eventually headed.”

The team is working on a few promotional strategies. “Behind-the-scenes footage will be released this week. We are also planning to add the Idhayam… number to the film in the second week,” concludes Sunir.