The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond collected Rs. 75 lakh nett approx on Friday. The film’s release had been stayed by the Kerala High Court on Thursday, but the order was reversed midday on Friday. As a result, the film could only open in cinemas from 6 PM onwards, with some shows starting even later in the evening. Considering the last minute clearance, effectively after the day had already begun, the film did very well to collect what it did. Effectively, Friday functioned as a paid preview rather than a full-fledged opening day for the film.
The original Kerala Story film was a blockbuster in 2023, which opened to Rs. 6 crore nett and went on to collect around Rs. 230 crore nett. The film is called a propaganda film, and to be fair, it is quite on the face rather than being subtle about it, but the fact of the matter is that the subject of the film got a good amount of audience, particularly in the Hindi belt. In the trade circle, it was quipped about how the film actually played like an educational film in some parts of the country.
Its not sure whether the same can be repeated with the sequel. These kinds of films have seen a fall since the peak of 2022-2023. For instance, The Bengal File had a massive fall-off from The Kerala Files. Having said that, the trailer for the film did carry a strong, impactful tone, which seemed better than Bengal Files. From this, one would expect it to, but such things are hard to predict. Importantly, the film doesn’t need to do as well as the original film; half of that or even less than that would be a very good result. The opening in the circumstances it got would suggest there is interest in it as well.
It will be today that will give a clearer picture. There is an open corridor for the film till Dhurandhar 2 and Toxic arrives on March 19th. If it gets traction from its target audience, it could have a healthy run till then and keep the box office ticking.
