Thandel Box Office Collection Day 1: Naga Chaitanya has scored his biggest solo opener with the release of Thandel. The anticipation for the film was good and it managed to do well on day 1 at the box office. The film is directed by Chandoo Mondeti of Karthikeya 2 fame and also stars Sai Pallavi. The Telugu version led the collections, even as it managed to register below 10% occupancy in Hindi and Tamil as well.
According to early estimates, Thandel crossed the ₹10 crore mark on day 1. The final numbers will certainly be touching the ₹11 crore mark in all languages. According to Track Tollywood, the worldwide collection of the film on its opening day is expected to be around ₹16 crore. Before Thandel, Love Story was Chay’s biggest opener, but its day 1 collection in India was below ₹10 crore mark. Incidentally, Love Story also starred Sai Pallavi, just like Thandel.
It seems like it’s the second in a row for Tollywood’s lead pair. The love story between the characters is the core of the film, as Chay shared in one of his interviews.
The film is inspired by true events and revolves around a fisherman named Thandel Raju (played by Chaitanya), who gets lost at sea and inadvertently drifts into Pakistani waters, leading to his capture and imprisonment in a Pakistani jail. Chaitanya said he spent two years preparing for the role of the fisherman. Thandel director Chandoo Mondeti and Chay have worked in Premam and Savyasachi previously.