Sarkar dethrones Rangasthalam to become biggest south Indian grosser of 2018

Vijay’s Sarkar might have opened to mixed reactions from audiences and critics alike, but it didn’t stop the film from setting the cash registers on fire as it has emerged as the biggest grossing south Indian film of the year, dethroning Ram Charan’s Rangasthalam, which ended its lifetime run with Rs218 crore worldwide.

Directed by AR Murugadoss, political thriller Sarkar is still running to packed houses, and has already grossed over Rs220 crore at the ticket window.   

Right from the first day of its release, Sarkar has been setting new records. According to reliable trade sources, the film managed to gross around Rs60 crore from the first day worldwide and domestically with around Rs47 crore gross, it has surpassed the opening day gross figure of Rs34.75 crore of Ranbir Kapoor’s Sanju (2018). This is the sixth Rs100-crore grosser for Vijay in his career and fourth in a row after Theri, (2016) Bairavaa (2017) and Mersal (2017).

The film revolves around NRI Sundar Ramaswamy, played by Vijay, as he decides to investigate the person who illegally casts his vote. Produced by Sun Pictures, the film is a political thriller that takes several digs at the incapability of the government in Tamil Nadu.

Sarkar review: A flawed political thriller that’s salvaged by Vijay

Two days into its release on 6 November, Sarkar became embroiled in a controversy as the TN government warned action against the film. Information and publicity minister of TN Thiru Kadambur Raju and law minister CV Shanmugham had conveyed that some scenes against the government could incite violence and that’s a grave offense. Both of them have requested for such scenes to be removed immediately.

Sarkar, which is being dubbed as Vijay’s launch pad, has criticized the ruling government for giving out freebies to the public. There’s a scene in the film where freebies are shown being thrown into the fire and Murugadoss himself features in it. Following stiff opposition from the ruling party, the makers were forced to mute two dialogues and black out a scene in which Murugadoss is seen throwing government freebies in the fire.

The makers have now removed the scene of people 'throwing mixer and grinder into the fire', as well as muting the name 'Komalavalli' in the film. The latter name implies an accusation at the late former chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

Another two muted words are those of 'Podhupannithurai' (Public Service) and '56 varusham' (56 years).