The Raja Saab box office prediction: Prabhas film faces Dhurandhar heat; may open at ₹65 crore, lower than Adipurush

PRabhas is reverting to the vainglorious test with his modish pan-India horror comedy, The rajah Saab. The film marks the return of ‘vintage’ Prabhas, as his fans call him, who infuses action with humour and comedy, and is a departure from the heavy mass actioners he has largely done in the last decade. Owing to the actor’s huge stardom, the film has already generated quite a big amount in advance bookings, but due to the genre and low on-ground buzz, the start does not look to be as smashing as some of Prabhas’ recent films.The Raja Saab box officeThe Raja Saab is releasing pan-India in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, and Malayalam. In the original Telugu version, the film is poised for a ₹45-50 crore net start in India. This is in line with some of Prabhas’ biggest releases since Baahubali, if only slightly lower. The dubbed versions (Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam) are expected to fetch no more than ₹5-6 crore on the first day. But Prabhas’ stardom has always translated well into the Hindi belt, which is where The Raja Saab needs to work. It has Sanjay Dutt as an additional carrot in front of the audience. But The Raja Saab also faces the enduring momentum of Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar, which is still going strong in theatres. The Raja Saab, faced with that challenge, is expected to open on a lukewarm note in Hindi, with collections of around ₹10-12 crore. This would give the film a domestic opening in the range of ₹65-70 crore.The figure is a big one, higher than Shah Rukh Khan’s biggest opening (Jawan, which managed ₹64 crore) or even Animal ( ₹63 crore). But it is slightly low in the list of big pan-India films, some of which starred Prabhas. Each of Prabhas’ last four films opened at over ₹85 crore, even Adipurush, which had a day 1 domestic collection of ₹86 crore, before it tanked. The ill-fated Saaho also managed ₹89 crore on its first day. Salaar and Kalki 2898 AD, the actor’s two blockbuster films, opened at ₹90 crore and ₹96 crore respectively. In that regard, The Raja Saab’s opening can be called disappointing. But the film has the Sankranthi advantage. The festival falls on Wednesday, which means the film looks at a six-day extended weekend of sorts.About The Raja SaabDirected by Maruthi, The Raja Saab is a fantasy horror starring Prabhas, alongside Sanjay Dutt, Malavika Mohanan, Boman Irani, Nidhhi Agerwal, Riddhi Kumar and Zarina Wahab. The film releases on January 9.