‘The Raja Saab’ collection Day 1: Prabhas' horror-comedy clocks ₹100 crore global opening

Prabhas’ return to cinemas with the fantasy horror-comedy ‘The Raja Saab’ has begun on a thunderous note, with the film crossing the ₹100 crore mark worldwide on its opening day. Released ahead of the Pongal 2026 festivities, the Maruthi-directed entertainer has delivered one of the biggest openings of the actor’s career, reaffirming his formidable box office pull, particularly in Telugu-speaking regions and overseas markets.

According to early trade estimates from industry tracker Sacnilk, ‘The Raja Saab’ posted strong numbers across languages on its first day, despite cautious expectations surrounding its genre shift away from large-scale action spectacles.

Strong India opening driven by Telugu markets

The film collected around ₹45 crore net in India on Friday, its first official day of release. This came on top of ₹9.15 crore earned through paid preview shows held on Thursday, taking the total India net opening to approximately ₹63.3 crore. In gross terms, the film earned about ₹74.9 crore domestically on Day 1.

Performance was led overwhelmingly by the Telugu version. Overall occupancy in the Telugu states stood at a robust 57.16 per cent, with night shows peaking at over 69 per cent. Morning and afternoon shows also opened on a solid footing, indicating strong fan-driven turnout from the start of the day.

Modest but improving response in Hindi and Tamil belts

The Hindi dubbed version recorded comparatively lower numbers, with an overall occupancy of 15.63 per cent. Morning shows opened sluggishly at under eight per cent, but attendance improved steadily through the day, touching over 21 per cent during night shows. The film earned around ₹6.15 crore from its Hindi version on Day 1.

Tamil Nadu reported a more encouraging response, with overall occupancy at 22.61 per cent and night shows nearing the 28 per cent mark, suggesting gradual word-of-mouth traction.

Overseas collections push worldwide total past ₹100 crore

Prabhas’ enduring popularity outside India once again played a crucial role in the film’s box office trajectory. Overseas collections are estimated at around ₹26 crore on the opening day. Combined with domestic earnings, ‘The Raja Saab’ finished Day 1 with worldwide collections of approximately ₹100.9 crore.

With this, the film becomes Prabhas’ sixth release to cross the ₹100 crore mark on its opening day, joining the ranks of ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’, ‘Saaho’, ‘Adipurush’, ‘Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire’ and ‘Kalki 2898 AD’.

Beats Dhurandhar, but trails Prabhas’ biggest openers

In terms of Day 1 India net collections, ‘The Raja Saab’ has surpassed Ranveer Singh’s ‘Dhurandhar’, which had opened at around ₹28 crore and dominated the box office for over five weeks. However, the film’s opening remains below Prabhas’ recent mega releases such as ‘Salaar’ and ‘Kalki 2898 AD’, a gap trade analysts say was expected given the film’s lighter tone and horror-comedy genre.

The delayed opening of advance bookings is also believed to have capped its initial surge to some extent.

Genre shift welcomed by fans

Directed by Maruthi, ‘The Raja Saab’ marks Prabhas’ return to a more family-friendly space after years of headlining intense action-driven projects. Early trends suggest that curiosity around the actor in a horror-comedy setup has worked in the film’s favour, particularly among his core fan base.

The ensemble cast includes Sanjay Dutt, Malavika Mohanan, Nidhhi Agerwal, Riddhi Kumar, Boman Irani and Zarina Wahab. The film is produced by TG Vishwa Prasad under the People Media Factory banner and was released in Telugu, along with dubbed versions in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.

Originally slated for release last year, the film faced multiple postponements before finally arriving in cinemas on January 9.