Kanguva box office collection Day 10: Suriya’s Rs 100-cr stumble puts Janhvi Kapoor-starring ‘Karna’ in limbo

The much-anticipated Tamil epic Kanguva has struggled to make an impact at the box office, falling short of the ₹100-crore milestone despite grand expectations. 

According to Sacnilk, the film has earned ₹66.1 crore net in India over ten days, with its worldwide gross tallying ₹98.5 crore—a significant miss for a movie touted as a blockbuster contender.

The film opened with a promising ₹24 crore net domestically on Day 1 but rapidly lost momentum. By the second Friday, daily collections had dropped to ₹0.7 crore, with only a modest recovery over the weekend to ₹1.1 crore on its tenth day. For a project of this scale, the dwindling numbers have cast a shadow on its theatrical run.

Producer KE Gnanavel Raja’s earlier confidence now appears overly ambitious in hindsight. In a pre-release interview with Galatta, Raja dismissed any doubts about Kanguva’s potential, aiming sky-high. 

"I am expecting ₹2,000 crore at the box office. Why are you underestimating it with the ₹1,000 crore mark?" he had said. However, with the film struggling to hit even ₹100 crore, those lofty expectations seem increasingly out of touch. Raja had also addressed accusations of inflated box office figures, promising transparency by submitting GST documentation for verification.

The underperformance of Kanguva appears to have impacted Suriya’s next ambitious project, Karna. Directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, the mythological epic—planned as a two-part retelling of the Mahabharata with a massive ₹350-crore budget—was expected to feature Janhvi Kapoor as Draupadi alongside Suriya in the titular role.

Reports now suggest that budgetary concerns have put the project on hold, although no official announcement has been made. Kapoor, who recently made her Telugu debut with Devara: Part 1, was expected to bring star power to her Tamil debut.