Vijay’s Ghilli Creates Box Office Record By Becoming Highest Grossing Re-released South Film
It is the fourth highest-grossing Tamil film of the year.
In 2003, filmmaker Gunasekhar made the romantic action film Okkadu with Mahesh Babu and Bhumika Chawla. Not only did the movie become a huge hit earning Rs 39 crore against a Rs 9 crore budget, but over the years has attained cult status. The movie has been remade into several languages including Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Bengali, Bangladeshi Bengali, Odia and Sinhala. Okkadu is one of the most remade films from India. Among all the remakes, Thalapathy Vijay’s Tamil remake named Ghilli has been the most successful at the box office. Released a year later in 2004, Ghilli earned even more than the original, earning Rs 50 crore at the box office. And this year, Ghilli has set the cash registers ringing once again with its re-release.
Like many movies from the South that have been enjoying a rerun in theatres after years, Vijay’s Ghilli was released in theatres once again on April 20 of this year. In a rare feat, a re-released film has become the fourth highest-grossing Tamil film of the year. Ghilli has achieved that feat, trailing behind Captain Miller, Ayalaan and Lal Salaam. The movie was re-released to celebrate the film’s 20th anniversary. However, that is not the only record Ghilli has made. Earning another Rs 50 crore at the box office in its rerun, Ghilli has become the highest-grossing re-release film in India, overtaking Titanic, which held first place previously. The success of Ghilli’s re-run might kick-start a trend of re-releases of past hits. Already, there is industry talk that the 2000 hit flick Khushi and 2007 hit Billa might see a rerun.
Meanwhile, before the re-release of Ghilli, Vijay was seen in the film Leo, directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj. He will next be seen in the film GOAT, directed by Venkat Prabhu. It will be one of the last films of Vijay’s career as the actor has stated that he will soon retire from cinema to concentrate on his political career.