Beast box office day 1 collections: Vijay-starrer opens big in TN with ₹27 crore, Hindi version earns only ₹50 lakh

Vijay-starrer Tamil action-drama Beast has registered a solid opening in Tamil Nadu with a whopping ₹27 crore gross earnings on its opening day. However, the film's aspirations of being a pan-India hit took a massive dent as the Hindi-dubbed version collected a meagre ₹50 lakh on release day. The Nelson directorial stars stars Vijay in the role of a RAW officer on a rescue mission to save people kept captive in a mall. Also read: Beast movie review: Vijay shines in this mall invasion thriller that’s bogged down by flippant writing

Beast marks the maiden collaboration of director Nelson Dilip Kumar and Vijay. It also features Pooja Hegde, who has been opposite Vijay for the first time. The film has music by Anirudh Ravichander. The Hindi-dubbed version of the film has been released as Raw.

As per a report in Box-Office India, the film registered a record opening in Tamil Nadu, earning approximately ₹27 crore in Tamil Nadu, which is higher than the opening-day figure of Valimai, which released last month. This means Beast has the best opening day numbers for a Tamil film since the pandemic began.

However, numbers outside Tamil Nadu have not been healthy for Beast. The report also stated, “The Hindi version of the film which is named Raw is a dud with collections somewhere in the 50-lakh range. Another film attempting to be a so called pan India film bites the dust.”

Kannada film KGF: Chapter 2 releases on Thursday and is likely to affect the business of Beast outside the Tamil-speaking territory. The Yash-starrer's Hindi version, has already registered the highest advance booking by any Hindi film ever.

Last week, Shah Rukh Khan had taken to Twitter to share the Hindi trailer of Beast. In his tweet, the actor also said he’s a fan of Vijay.

In Beast, Vijay plays a character called Veeraraghavan, billed as one of the best spies the country has ever had. Filmmaker Selvaraghavan plays the character of a mediator while VTV Ganesh, Sathish and Yogi Babu are seen in supporting roles.