Pradeep Ranganathan is currently busy with the promotions of his upcoming movie, Dude. A few days ago, he was told that he is not ‘hero material’ and was asked whether he was copying Dhanush. While the young actor is continuously facing such demeaning remarks from the media, Nagarjuna gave him confidence by reassuring his worth and calling him ‘merupu teega’ (flash of lightning). 

The Love Today actor recently visited Bigg Boss Telugu 9’s Weekend Ka Vaar episode to promote his film, Dude. Nagarjuna, the host, was all praise for Pradeep and compared him to Rajinikanth and Dhanush, who changed cinema forever. He said, “A few decades back, a merupu teega (flash of lightning) came to the cinema and changed its fate. His name is Rajinikanth. A few decades later, there came another merupu teega who was skinny, someone who attracted the youth, Dhanush came. Now, a few decades later, I am seeing Pradeep.”

Overwhelmed with Nagarjuna’s words, Pradeep said, “Sir, those are really big words, and when it comes from you, it really means the world to me.” The King actor went on to praise Ranganathan’s Love Today and Dragon and mentioned that he loved them. “I have seen both your films, and I really love them. They’re so updated to today’s youth. It’s hard to tell a heart-touching story in a contemporary style. Be it Love Today or Dragon, they’re the kind of films that break language barriers,” added Nagarjuna. 

A week ago, Pradeep Ranganathan was questioned over his appearance. The reporter asserted that he didn’t look like hero material. The reporter said, “Don’t take this negatively, but you don’t look like hero material. Is hard work or luck behind the kind of fan following you have?” Before the Tamil actor could answer it, Sarathkumar took the mic and replied, “You cannot say A-Z who is a hero material; everybody here is hero material. There are no specifications for what a hero must look like. A person doing any act that benefits society is a hero. The question you asked might not be negative, but you could’ve just asked him why he isn’t a bodybuilder like Sarathkumar.” 

Stay tuned to Pinkvilla for more updates. 

Kantara: Chapter 1 collected USD 2.25 million approx in its 2nd weekend overseas, pushing it over the USD 10 million mark. The total gross stands at USD 10.60 million (Rs. 94 crore), which, combined with Rs. 499.50 crore from India, gives it a worldwide gross of Rs. 593.50 crore approx. It will cross Rs. 600 crore today.

The film has performed best in the Middle East, which was the only territory to open well. It could have sustained a bit better, though. Australia started low but has sustained the best and is now headed for a very good finish. Tamil markets, Malaysia and Singapore have done well, while Europe is also pretty good. The disappointment has come from North America, where the United States is mediocre, while Canada suffered from a poor release due to external factors.

The film is looking to reach around USD 14 million for its full run. USD 15 million is a stretch, but this is close enough. From the opening of the film last week, reaching USD 10 million seemed far-fetched, but the film has done well to reach here. 

These are superb numbers for a Kannada film. Since the Kannada diaspora abroad isn’t very large, there isn’t much of a foundational business like other South Indian language films have. In that case, it was relying on other languages for the overseas business, particularly Telugu and Hindi. The Hindi overseas business mirrors more with North India, and this film is more of a Maharashtra thing. That left it with Telugu. The Telugu version fared strongly in India, but overseas, it probably suffered from premium-priced ticket prices, which curbed its reach.

With these considerations, it was prudent not to have big expectations from the film overseas, but it ended up being the opposite. The film was benchmarked against films like KGF 2 and Pushpa 2, both of which broke out big in North India and Tamil Nadu. Unlike India, where the expectations were just talk, real money was put into these expectations overseas, and those who did, stand to lose heavily. For instance, North America was priced at USD 10 million for breakeven, which was insane. The film will struggle to reach even half that. 

The Territorial Breakdown for Kantara: Chapter 1 Overseas Box Office is as follows: