The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond opened well at the Indian box office, collecting Rs. 5.50 crore nett approx. Of this, Rs. 75 lakh nett approx came from limited Friday evening shows, while Rs. 4.75 crore nett approx was added on Saturday. Although Saturday was technically the second day of release, the film had faced a legal hurdle earlier. The Kerala High Court had stayed its release on Thursday, and the order was reversed only on Friday, allowing shows to begin in the evening. Because of this delay, Saturday effectively turned out to be the actual opening day.
The Kerala Story, released in 2023, was a blockbuster. That film opened to Rs. 6.75 crore nett and went on to collect nearly Rs. 225 crore in its full run. It was labelled as a propaganda film, and to be fair, it was quite on the face rather than being subtle about it. Having said that, 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.
All that holds for this sequel as well. Despite having no face value, it has gotten a start, which means the IP has some value. These films, having a certain political leaning, have a bit of a fall off from their peak in the early 2020s. The Bengal Files plummeted from the blockbuster success of The Kashmir Files. A similar thing could have happened with this film as well, which it has avoided.
The original film had a very strong trajectory at the box office, which is unlikely to be repeated, though you never know with films of this type. That said, it doesn’t really need to repeat that. 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.