Waltair Veerayya: Chiranjeevi film collects Rs 14 crore in advance booking, heading for massive opening day

Chiranjeevi’s Waltair Veerayya is the last of the big releases from the south around Pongal/Sankranti festive weekend. The Telugu action drama also stars Shruti Haasan and Ravi Teja. Given the heavy star power and festive rush, it isn’t a surprise that the film has done well in advance booking and looks all set for a massive opening day.

Waltair Veerayya, directed by KS Ravindra, stars Chiranjeevi as a notorious smuggler and Ravi Teja as the cop assigned to catch him. The film follows the tussle between them as they lock horns and how each tries to outwit the other in an action-packed saga. Produced by Naveen Yerneni, Y Ravi Shankar and co-produced by G K Mohan, under the banner of Mythri Movie Makers, Waltair Veerayya is releasing in theatres on January 13.

Trade tracker Sacnilk reports that the Chiranjeevi film sold 7.35 lakh tickets in advance booking for its first day, which amounts to Rs 14.08 crore gross collections. The number is only slightly lower than the other Sankranti release Veera Simha Reddy. As per trade experts, the advance booking and initial footfall trends show Waltair Veerayya should easily cross Rs 25 crore in nett collections on its opening day.

Waltair Veerayya is clashing at the box office with Nandamuri Balakrishna’s Veera Simha Reddy, which also had a great start. The film, which released in theatres on Thursday, is poised for a Rs 32-crore opening day as per early estimates. Both films will tussle with each other for higher numbers over the extended weekend.

Between these two and Varisu and Thunivu from the Tamil film industry, south has given four big films this Pongal/Sankranti weekend with all registering a huge opening day. Now, it all depends on word of mouth if they can sustain these numbers over the first week.