Ashwin Kumar's Mahavatar Narsimha mints Rs 15.85 Cr in opening weekend: collections soared by over 400 % from Day 1
Ashwin Kumar
's mythological action drama Mahavatar Narsimha opened in cinemas with measured expectations, but the film has shown a notable upward trend through its opening weekend. Rooted in ancient Indian mythology and centered around the fierce avatar of
Vishnu
who emerges to destroy the tyrant Hiranyakashyap, the film has managed to strike a chord, particularly in the Hindi-speaking belt.
Directed by Ashwin Kumar with reverence for the source material and supported by strong visuals, Mahavatar Narsimha delves into the eternal battle between good and evil, a story familiar to many but rarely attempted with such scale and cinematic vision in modern Indian cinema. The screenplay by Ashwin Kumar , Jayapurna Das and Rudra Pratap Ghosh brings to life the poignant journey of Prahlad's unwavering devotion and the divine wrath of Narsimha, offering both emotional and action-packed beats.
The film had a modest start with a Day 1 (Friday) net collection of Rs 1.75 crore across all languages. Of this, the Hindi version contributed a significant Rs 1.3 crore, clearly establishing the northern belt as the film's strongest market. The Telugu version followed with Rs 35 lakhs, while Kannada, Tamil, and Malayalam versions opened to limited numbers, together contributing just Rs 10 lakhs.
However, the real turnaround began on Saturday, with the film showing an impressive 162.86% growth.
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It collected Rs 4.6 crore, with the Hindi version rising to Rs 3.25 crore and Telugu to Rs 1.15 crore. The Kannada version improved marginally to Rs 11 lakhs, and the Tamil and Malayalam versions also saw slight upticks.
The upward trajectory continued into Sunday, with the film raking in an estimated Rs 9.5 crore, marking another 106.52% increase from Saturday. Hindi alone contributed Rs 6.75 crore, while the Telugu version brought in Rs 2.4 crore.
The film's total three-day India net collection now stands at Rs 15.85 crore, a solid figure for a mythological film led by a relatively lesser-known star.The film not only showed a massive 442.86 % jump from its day 1 collection but also survived the Saiyaara wave in Hindi belt which has now become the 25th biggest hit of Hindi cinema.
Never before has a film with newcomers like
Ahaan Panday
and
Aneet Padda
performed this well at the box office. The film has been directed by
Mohit Suri
.
What's becoming increasingly clear is that Mahavatar Narsimha is riding on strong word-of-mouth, especially among family audiences and devotees appreciative of its spiritual and moral themes. Its performance is particularly promising given that the film had limited buzz pre-release and a relatively niche theme in a market dominated by commercial action dramas.If this momentum continues into the weekdays, the film may become a surprise hit.
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The Hindu
22 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Telangana's surrogacy scam: The business of selling babies
The Secunderabad railway station in Telangana is a noisy transit hub. Thousands of people enter and exit the concourse every day. Ad jingles in Hindi, Telugu, English, and Bengali, about the various medical procedures offered by hospitals across the city, blare over the din. Billboards outside the station feature smiling couples with babies. The city, along with Hyderabad, is a significant hub for medical tourism in India. In August 2024, after having done some research, Sonam Singh and her husband Akshay travelled to Secunderabad from Kuharwas village near Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan for an in vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedure. They rented a house near the railway station and began searching on the Internet for hospitals nearby. Near the railway station, they found the Universal Srushti Fertility Centre, which promised them an 85% success rate for an IVF procedure. The hopeful couple met the owner, Pachipala Namratha aka Athaluri Namratha, 64. 'The test results showed that we were medically fit to conceive,' says Sonam, speaking over the phone from Kuharwas. 'But the doctor insisted that we opt for surrogacy. She told us that it was safer and more reliable. She also assured us that the clinic would use our sperm and egg, and also handle all the paperwork and legalities.' While an IVF procedure can cost anywhere between ₹2 lakh and ₹6 lakh per cycle, Namratha told the couple that surrogacy would cost them ₹30 lakh. She asked Sonam and Akshay to transfer half the amount through their bank account and pay the remaining in cash, supposedly for the surrogate. Convinced, the couple made their first payment on August 16, 2024. According to the First Information Report filed by Akshay, Namratha also promised the couple that 'a healthy child [would be] delivered... after DNA confirmation.' Nearly a year later, on June 5, Sonam and Akshay were handed a baby at Lotus Hospital in Visakhapatnam. 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The police add that they have discovered a disturbing pattern in how surrogates are sourced. The sealed medical facility in Secunderabad is surrounded by lodges and bed-and-breakfast rooms. These lodging facilities were used to house women. A police officer says, 'The agents would approach vulnerable women, particularly those seeking abortions, and offer them money to continue their pregnancy so that they could take the baby later. These newborns would then be passed off as children conceived through surrogacy. This is how people were misled into believing that the babies were biologically theirs.' In at least four known cases in Telangana, women were not paid at all and completely abandoned post-delivery, the officer adds. On November 26, 2024, a woman engaged as a surrogate by a couple died after falling from the ninth floor of a building in Raidurgam in the western part of Hyderabad. According to the police, the victim and her husband, both natives of Odisha, were given accommodation by Rajesh Babu and his wife at their residence. When Rajesh allegedly tried to sexually assault the 26-year-old woman, she tried to escape through the balcony and slipped and died. She was purportedly brought to the city through middlemen for surrogacy for ₹10 lakh, say police reports. Donors in queue As the police widened their probe, they raided a facility operating under the name, Indian Sperm Tech, near Secunderabad East Metro Station, located about 400 metres away from the fertility clinic. They found 17 sperm donors and 11 egg donors waiting in queue at the facility. 'The women donors were brought from Delhi, and the men from Andhra Pradesh and other parts of Telangana. The sperm donors, mostly aged between 22 and 30, were paid ₹1,000-₹1,500 per sample. The men were in need of quick cash,' says a police officer who led the raid. L. Shiva was among the people arrested by the police in the midnight raid. Shiva, 35, from Vizianagaram, brought egg and sperm donors and connected them to the hospital. Another broker who was arrested hails from Indore in Madhya Pradesh. One of the egg donors caught in the raid was a 30-year-old resident from Baksa, Assam. Indian Sperm Tech, reportedly headquartered in Ahmedabad, had allegedly set up the sperm collection unit in Secunderabad without a valid license. 'It is a diagnostic centre,' says an officer from the District Medical and Health Officer's office. 'They collect sperm samples, freeze them, and send them to Ahmedabad. The processed samples (isolated and concentrated to select the healthiest sperm) are then returned with reports and sold to clinics across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh. The place has been operating for two years without registration.' In trouble before It is a typically busy weekday afternoon on St. Johns Road in Secunderabad. 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The only time we were mildly inconvenienced was when too many patients came and there would be many cars on the street,' he says. Rajesh says there was a police case involving the same place about 10 years ago. 'No one talked about it much because back then, news on social media did not reach us as fast as it does now,' he says. 'We knew what was happening here,' says Manu, a lawyer who lives across the street of the four-storied Rushi Test Tube Bab Cent. While the name in English has missing letters, the name in Telugu etched beneath it reveals the complete name — Srusthi Test Tube Baby Centre. 'This place was sealed five times earlier. But eventually things got back to 'normal'. This time I think it is serious and she (Namratha) will not be allowed to carry on the business.' The Telangana Medical Council says Namratha was involved in a surrogacy scandal in 2016. A U.S.-based couple, who had used the clinic's services, had discovered that the child born to them through a surrogate was not biologically related to them. 'Following a police case and court hearings, we suspended the doctor's license for five years, with a lifetime ban on conducting surrogacy procedures,' says Dr. G Srinivas, Vice-Chairman of the Council. Yet, when the suspension period ended, the doctor returned, seeking to have her license reinstated. 'We refused. She was still involved in a court case, and our rules are clear on that,' Dr. Srinivas adds. A stringent law As surrogacy has become an increasingly popular option for couples grappling with infertility, Indian law has become more stringent to ensure that the practice remains ethical and free from commercial exploitation. What once operated in legal grey zones is now bound by clear rules, thanks to the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021. Under the Act, only altruistic surrogacy is permitted in India. 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