Post Pongal festivities, Ajith's latest release Thunivu has brushed off weekday blues while running to full theatres in Tamil Nadu, said a trade analyst on Thursday.
"They Said Wednesday Will Decide The Actual Pongal Winner. #Thunivu - Complete Housefull Show All Over Yesterday With Extraordinary Response From Both Fans & General Audience In KRISHNAVENI CINEMAS," tweeted trade analyst Ramesh Bala on Thursday.
Manobala Vijayabalan, another trade analyst, had tweeted on Wednesday that Thunivu had crossed the Rs 200 crore milestone at global box office while Varisu, the Vijay-starrer, has a bit of a catching up to do at Rs 150 crore.
In the first week of their release, Thunivu earned Rs 112 crore in Tamil Nadu while Varisu earned Rs 70 crore, thus cementing Ajith's status of being the winner of the Pongal clash this year. However, Vijay's family drama has been lapped up in Kerala with the movie joining the Rs 10 crore gross club. This is the tenth Rs 10 crore grossing movie of Vijay in the South Indian state and also the most by a non-Malayali star.
That said, on a broader level, Ajith's slick bank heist movie was a more watchable movie because it showed the star hero in "beast mode", said netizens. Ajith's slightly anti-hero outing was lapped up by audience a lot more than the Vijay's family drama masquerading as a corporate thriller.
Despite director H Vinoth Kumar's previous outing Valimai being a misfire, Thunivu caught audience attention because it touched upon burning issues of the society with its takes on EMIs, mutual funds, banks.
While Varisu evoked Vijay's blockbusters from years ago, like Poove Unakkaga Kadhalukku Mariyadhai, director Vamshi Paidipally's script was so middling that even its star hero couldn't lift it, said tweets.