Ram Charan’s Peddi stormed into theatres with the kind of opening most films can only dream of. But just over a week later, the sports drama appears to be facing a different challenge altogether, sustaining that early momentum at the box office.
After a record-breaking start, the film’s collections have witnessed a steady decline over the past few days. As a result, Peddi has fallen short of the ₹300 crore worldwide milestone within its first week, despite earning more than ₹100 crore globally on its opening day itself.
The Buchi Babu Sana directorial, which features Ram Charan as an aspiring sportsperson, opened to impressive numbers on its first day. The film collected ₹69 crore net in India on Thursday and crossed the ₹100 crore gross mark
worldwide on day one. Its opening weekend performance remained solid as well, with the film amassing ₹137 crore net at the domestic box office.
However, collections began tapering off once the weekdays kicked in. The film saw a significant drop on Monday, followed by further declines on Tuesday and Wednesday. The trend continued on its eighth day in theatres as well.
On Thursday, Peddi collected an estimated ₹6.30 crore net in India. With that, the film’s domestic earnings now stand at ₹193.55 crore net, while its gross collection in India is around ₹230 crore.
The overseas performance has also slowed considerably. On Thursday alone, the film reportedly earned a little over $600,000 from international territories. Its total overseas earnings have now crossed the $5 million mark. Combined with its domestic business, Peddi has accumulated approximately ₹279 crore gross worldwide after eight days of release.
The film was positioned as a major pan-India offering and was promoted extensively beyond the Telugu-speaking market. The makers organised a high-profile launch event in Bhopal and relied on actors like Janhvi Kapoor, Divyenndu and Boman Irani to attract audiences in North India.
But the strategy has not translated into substantial box-office returns in the Hindi market. Despite securing a large number of screens across northern regions, the Hindi dubbed version has contributed less than 5% of the film’s overall earnings. While the Telugu version has earned more than ₹170 crore net domestically, the Hindi version is still struggling to cross the ₹15 crore net mark after a week in theatres.
Industry observers have also pointed to the recent controversy surrounding Janhvi Kapoor’s character as one of the factors affecting the film’s momentum. Several viewers criticised the makers for the way the actor was portrayed on screen, accusing the film of reducing her role to a decorative presence and presenting her through an excessive male gaze.
Following the backlash, director Buchi Babu Sana issued an apology and stated that the scenes that drew criticism would be modified. Janhvi Kapoor has not publicly addressed the controversy so far.
The slowdown has also impacted Peddi’s position among recent Telugu box-office successes. The film completed its first week behind the lifetime worldwide collections of titles such as OG (₹295 crore), Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu (₹300 crore), and Mahavatar Narsimha (₹325 crore). Earlier projections had suggested that Peddi would comfortably surpass those numbers within its opening week.
