The Raja Saab box office collection Day 5: Horror-comedy movie, starring Prabhas and Sanjay Dutt, nosedives

The Raja Saab, starring Prabhas, opened with paid previews and collected ₹9.15 crore from India. The entire amount came from the Telugu version. The previews indicated good initial curiosity ahead of the full release.

The horror-comedy also stars Sanjay Dutt, Malavika Mohanan, Nidhhi Agerwal, Boman Irani and Riddhi Kumar in key roles. The Teluhu original was released on 9 January.

The film, directed by Maruthi, saw a strong jump on its first full day, earning ₹53.75 crore net in India. Telugu markets dominated the box office collection with ₹47 crore. Hindi contributed ₹6 crore. Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam versions added small but steady numbers. This marked a solid opening.

Box office collections dropped sharply to ₹26 crore, a fall of over 51%. Telugu remained the strongest contributor at ₹20.65 crore, followed by Hindi at ₹5.1 crore. Other languages stayed limited.

Sunday collections stood at ₹19.1 crore, showing another sharp decline. Telugu brought in ₹14.2 crore while Hindi earned ₹4.65 crore. Weekend growth was weaker than expected.

Monday saw a big weekday drop. The film collected just ₹6.6 crore, a decline of over 65%. Telugu and Hindi were the main contributors.

Early estimates suggest ₹4.85 crore on Day 5. The total India net collection stands at ₹119.45 crore, according to Sacnilk.

The Raja Saab story

Raja Saab (Prabhas)looks after his grandmother, Gangamma (Zarina Wahab), who is an Alzheimer’s patient. Though she forgets most things, she strongly remembers her husband Kanakaraju, a former exorcist believed to be living in exile.

Wanting answers, Raja Saab begins a search for his missing grandfather. This takes him to Hyderabad.

During the journey, Raja Saab faces many challenges and emotional conflicts. He falls in love with Bessy (Nidhhi Agerwal), a devoted nun.

Bhairavi (Malavika Mohanan), a thief’s granddaughter, joins him and helps in the search. Their path finally leads them to a haunted mansion, where shocking truths come out.

His grandfather, Kanakaraju (Sanjay Dutt), is revealed as the mastermind behind everything. He vanished on purpose and planned a trap to bring Raja Saab there.

Raja Saab, Bessy and Bhairavi are imprisoned. Even the expert, Dr Padmabhushan (Boman Irani), fails to stop Kanakaraju. At his breaking point, Raja Saab awakens a hidden power that bends reality.

The Raja Saab OTT release

The box office numbers do not look encouraging for the horror-comedy, reportedly made with a massive budget of ₹450 crore. However, The Raja Saab struck gold with its OTT release deal.

According to OTTPlay, the makers originally sought ₹200 crore for the digital rights of the film. However, that did not materialise. Still, The Raja Saab managed to earn ₹160 crore for its OTT rights, the publication added. The streaming rights were sold for all languages.

A film typically needs to earn at least double its budget to break even. Even with the jaw-dropping OTT deal, the film appears unlikely to turn a profit.